South Korea Expands Medical School Seats Outside Seoul to Boost Regional Coverage
South Korea’s Education Ministry announced a plan to allocate medical school enrollments for the 2027 through 2031 academic years, focusing on regional expansion outside Seoul. The plan covers 32 medical schools located outside the capital and a total of 40 schools nationwide. The ministry disclosed the 2027 intake at 3,548 students, up from 3,058 in 2024, with the largest single-year increases assigned to Kangwon National University and Chungbuk National University, each receiving an additional 39 places.
The plan also specifies the overall capacity under the regional medical service policy. According to the Health and Welfare Ministry’s notice, the total enrollment across the 40 medical schools would be 3,548 in 2027 and 3,671 for the 2028–2031 period, with increases designated on a yearly basis. The increases are allocated only to schools outside Seoul, under the regional doctor deployment scheme.
Region-by-region increases were outlined to address uneven medical coverage. The Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongsangnam-do region is slated to receive the largest gains, with 97 seats in 2027 and 121 seats added each year from 2028 to 2031. The Gyeonggi Province–Incheon region is allocated 24 seats in 2027 and 30 seats per year from 2028 through 2031, the smallest growth among the major regions.
At the university level, Kangwon National University and Chungbuk National University are the leaders in growth, receiving 39 additional places in 2027 and 49 more seats per year from 2028 to 2031. Jeonnam National University and Busan National University follow, with 31 extra places in 2027 and 38 more per year from 2028 to 2031. In the Gyeonggi–Incheon area, private medical colleges are allocated 2 extra places in 2027 and 3 more per year from 2028 to 2031, the smallest increase among the listed institutions.
The changes were prepared after the Ministry of Health and Welfare reviewed the proposal at the Health Policy Deliberation Committee last month. The Education Ministry then requested each university submit an enrollment-adjustment application by the 27th. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, universities may file comments on the preliminary notice by the 24th. If the quotas are finalized next month, universities will revise their school regulations and revise the 2027 admissions plans in May to reflect the new numbers.
Why this matters beyond Korea: the expansion and regional redistribution of medical school quotas indicate a determined effort to rebalance the country’s physician workforce away from Seoul toward smaller cities. For the United States, this matters because Korea is a major hub for medical technology, biotech collaboration, and global medical education exchanges. A more geographically distributed doctor workforce can affect Korea’s healthcare market, regional healthcare access, and potential international partnerships in training, research, and telemedicine. The plan also signals how Korea uses education policy to support regional development and healthcare resilience, which can influence Korea’s policy environment for foreign researchers, students, and investors involved in healthcare and related sectors.