About

Twelve years building trust.
Twenty-four years inside healthcare.

Medical Korea Service is a Korea-licensed medical tourism agency — Ministry of Health and Welfare Foreign Patient Attraction Business Registration A-2014-01-01-1414. We were founded to do one thing well — match international patients with Korea's most trusted specialists, quietly.

The Founder
James Kim, Founder
James Kim · Founder 🇸🇬 · 🇰🇷

James Kim

Founder & CEO, Medical Korea Service
24
Years in
Healthcare
12+12
Pharma +
Med Tourism
122
Verified
Specialists
40+
Partner
Clinics

James Kim spent 24 years inside Korean healthcare — 12 years at multinational pharma (Novartis Oncology, Allergan Aesthetic) and 12 years guiding international patients to Korea.

Not as a marketer. He trained physicians, structured medical education, and built genuine trust with Korea's leading aesthetic and plastic surgery practices.

That access does not appear on Google. It only travels through introduction.

  • Novartis (Switzerland) — Oncology Division
  • Allergan (USA) — Aesthetic Division (Botox & Filler manufacturer)
  • Founder & CEO, Medical Korea Service (2014–present)
  • Licensed International Patient Facilitator — A-2014-01-01-1414
  • Issued by the Mayor of Seoul
  • Publishes The Medical Governance Report on LinkedIn

"He doesn't sell surgery. He decides who should have it."

Connect with James on LinkedIn →
In the Field

Time spent where it matters.

James spends much of his time inside clinics — meeting specialists, inspecting facilities, witnessing how trust is built.

Specialist verification visit
Specialist verification visit
Hospital inspection in Gangnam
Hospital inspection, Gangnam
James speaking at Travel Tech Conference in Singapore
Speech at Travel Tech Conference, Singapore
James presenting at Korea Tourism Organization Cultural Festival, Singapore
Lecture at Korea Tourism Organization, Singapore
Medical Tourism Expo team booth, Manila
Medical Tourism Expo with Team
Hospital FAM tour with Seoul Medical Tourism Partners
Hospital FAM tour with Seoul Medical Tourism Partners
The Company

Licensed. Insured. Government-endorsed.

Medical Korea Service Co., Ltd.

Founded: 2014

HQ: 4F, 8 Teheran-ro 2-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Regional Office: Singapore

Business Registration: 745-87-00012

Licensing & Insurance

Foreign Patient Facilitator License: A-2014-01-01-1414

Issued by: Mayor of Seoul (Seoul Metropolitan Government) — registered 23 July 2014, valid to 25 June 2029

Statutory guarantee bond: KRW 100,000,000 (Seoul Guarantee Insurance; beneficiary KHIDI) — required by law for registered facilitators, verifiable at sgic.co.kr

Travel Business Bond Insurance: KRW 65,000,000

All certificates available for download in the footer.

Registered longer than most — and how to check it yourself

Every Korean facilitator's registration number carries its year in the first block. Ours reads A-2014-01-01-1414: registered on 23 July 2014 as an individual business, incorporated as Medical Korea Service Co., Ltd. in February 2015, and re-validated through 2029. Most agencies currently marketing Korean surgery to Singapore, Indonesian and US patients carry registration numbers beginning A-2025 or A-2026. We are not the largest; we are among the longest continuously registered.

Do not take our word for it. Three public checks take under five minutes:

  • Facilitator registration — search the number A-2014-01-01-1414 in the Ministry of Health and Welfare / KHIDI register of licensed facilitators.
  • Guarantee bond — verify the SGI bond at sgic.co.kr (policy 100-000-202604436625).
  • Company — business registration 745-87-00012, Medical Korea Service Co., Ltd., 4F, 8 Teheran-ro 2-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

We ask every patient to run the same three checks on any clinic or agency they are comparing us with — including us.

Questions people ask about our registration

How long has Medical Korea Service been registered?
Since 23 July 2014 — more than 12 years of continuous registration. Our foreign-patient facilitator registration, No. A-2014-01-01-1414, was issued by the Mayor of Seoul (Seoul Metropolitan Government) and is valid to 25 June 2029.

How can I check that a Korean medical concierge is government-licensed?
Three public checks take under five minutes. First, search the agency's facilitator registration number in the Ministry of Health and Welfare / KHIDI register of licensed facilitators — the first block of the number shows the year it was issued. Second, verify its guarantee bond with Seoul Guarantee Insurance at sgic.co.kr. Third, confirm its Korean business registration number and address. For Medical Korea Service these are registration A-2014-01-01-1414, SGI policy 100-000-202604436625 and business registration 745-87-00012.

Is Medical Korea Service licensed to serve Indonesian patients?
Yes. Registration A-2014-01-01-1414 is Korea's foreign-patient facilitator registration — the registration required to arrange care in Korea for patients from abroad, Indonesia included. Consultation, case review and post-surgery follow-up are provided in Bahasa Indonesia on WhatsApp +82 10 6886 8713, at no extra fee.

Discretion First

Privacy You Can Trust.

Your decision is yours. What happens in Korea, stays in Korea — and is written into every contract.

01

Contractual privacy with every hospital.

Before we send any patient to a facility, the hospital signs our patient information protection clause. This is not their standard contract — it is ours.

02

No public testimonials without your explicit consent.

Your name, your story, and your photos remain private unless you decide otherwise — in writing.

03

Encrypted communication.

WhatsApp Business with end-to-end encryption. Internal records on access-controlled systems. No customer data shared with third-party advertisers.

04

VIP coordination.

From airport to hospital to hotel, you are guided by someone who knows your name — not a generic concierge.

In a market built on visibility, your invisibility is the rarest service.

The Insider Brief

A private correspondence,
twice a month.

Notes from inside Korea — what we are seeing, what we are learning, what we wish every thoughtful patient knew. Read by 1,200+ readers.

Or, chat on WhatsApp →