South Korea's National Assembly audit has put a number on the scale of the country's medical tourism boom in skin care: 1.54 million foreign patients received dermatology or plastic surgery treatment, and VAT refunds on cosmetic surgery procedures reached KRW 196.4 billion.

The figures, surfaced during the 2026 National Assembly Audit, place dermatology and plastic surgery at the center of the debate over how Korea taxes and regulates treatment delivered to visiting patients.

Why do VAT refunds matter here?

Foreign patients can claim refunds of value-added tax paid on medical procedures, and cosmetic surgery has become the dominant driver of that refund channel. The KRW 196.4 billion figure gives lawmakers — and Korean clinics marketing to international clients — a concrete measure of how much revenue flows back out of the treasury through aesthetic procedures.

For dermatology practices competing for cross-border patients, the audit number signals both the commercial weight of the segment and the likelihood of tighter fiscal scrutiny as the 2026 audit cycle proceeds.

What does the patient volume tell us?

The 1.54 million-patient count covers dermatology and plastic surgery combined, making skin-related care the single most visible category in Korea's foreign-patient economy. That concentration raises practical questions for clinics: capacity, interpreter staffing, follow-up care for patients who return home, and how refund administration scales with volume.

The audit record itself does not break the figure down by condition, procedure type or nationality, so any readout on which aesthetic treatments dominate remains an open data question.

What comes next?

With both numbers now formally on the audit record, expect the National Assembly to weigh whether the refund regime for cosmetic surgery stays as is — a decision that would directly affect pricing and marketing math for every Korean dermatology and plastic surgery clinic serving foreign patients.