One institute, every exam: how South Korea licenses its health professionals

Medical and health education in South Korea

South Korea uses a six-year pathway for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy: two pre-professional years followed by four professional years, taught in Korean. About 40 medical schools exist, with programmes evaluated by the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) and the schools overseen by the Ministry of Education. Nursing is mainly a four-year degree, with some three-year college programmes remaining.

Graduation, or expected graduation, is the route into the national exam run by KHPLEI for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which then issues the licence. Most new doctors go on to a one-year internship and then three to four years of residency to qualify as specialists. Medical school admission quotas have been the subject of public dispute in recent years, so treat intake numbers as something to confirm with the Ministry rather than a fixed figure.

One institute, every profession

South Korea differs from most countries in this region because the same body writes and administers nearly every health licensing exam. KHPLEI also runs the radiographer, medical laboratory scientist, occupational therapist, dental hygienist and emergency medical technician exams. For a candidate that means one set of procedures, one application system and a consistent style of item across professions.

The main commercial and clinical fact is volume. Nursing is the largest cohort by far. Physiotherapy has several thousand candidates a year. The pharmacist cohort has grown with the move to the six-year (2+4) programme. For current numbers, use KHPLEI statistics, not press summaries.

Who needs a licensing exam in South Korea

• Graduates of Korean programmes: sit the national exam for their profession in their final year or just after graduating.
• Foreign-trained doctors, dentists and pharmacists: graduates of schools recognised by the Ministry must pass a preliminary examination (예비시험) before the full licensing exam.
• Foreign-trained nurses: graduates of schools recognised by the Ministry may sit the nursing exam.
• Midwives: licensed nurses who complete one year of midwifery training. The cohort is tiny.

Doctors: 의사 국가시험

Format. The written paper has roughly 320 MCQ items and is moving to computer-based delivery. The clinical skills test (실기) combines a clinical performance examination (CPX) with standardised patients and an OSCE. A candidate must pass both parts.

The 2026 additional sitting produced 1,631 passes, a 90.8% rate. That cohort was unusually small because of the 2024 to 2025 trainee walkout, and normal cohorts run above 3,000 candidates. Those numbers come from a news report, not from KHPLEI, so use them only to understand the context. Residency selection is a separate process run by hospitals and the Korean Hospital Association, not through KHPLEI.

The preliminary exam for foreign medical graduates

The Preliminary Examination (의사 예비시험) was introduced in 2005. It has a written MCQ stage and a clinical skills stage, and passing it opens the way to the full licensing exam. Between 2005 and 2023 only about a third of the foreign graduates who sat it went on to obtain a licence, according to a summary by the CLEAR foreign-credentialing organisation. Korean language ability is required throughout.

1. Confirm that your medical school is recognised by the Ministry.
2. Apply to KHPLEI for the preliminary exam, then sit both stages.
3. Apply for the Korean Medical Licensing Examination.
4. Pass the written and clinical skills parts.
5. Register with the Ministry and begin postgraduate training.

Nurses: 간호사 국가시험

The nursing exam has about 295 MCQ items across eight subjects, including health law, and runs in one day. Candidates are graduates of four-year nursing programmes, and graduates of Ministry-recognised foreign schools may sit. Of all Korean exams it is the largest by volume. The applicant figure we have is old (a 2018 news report), so we do not quote it here.

The eight-subject structure is the main preparation challenge: a candidate who is strong in adult nursing can still lose marks to health law and fundamentals if those are left to the end.

Midwives: 조산사 국가시험

The midwife exam is a written MCQ for licensed nurses who have completed one year of midwifery training. The cohort is tiny and details are limited to what KHPLEI publishes. Midwives should read the nurse exam notes above too, because their route runs through nursing.

Pharmacists: 약사 국가시험

The pharmacist exam has about 350 MCQ items across four subjects, including health law, in one day. Candidates are graduates of six-year (2+4) pharmacy programmes. Foreign graduates must pass the preliminary exam. Because the cohort has grown, the pass numbers and applicant counts are best taken from the current KHPLEI statistics page.

Dentists: 치과의사 국가시험

The dentist exam has a written MCQ paper and a clinical skills test (실기), added following the medical CPX model. Korean dental school graduates sit it, and foreign graduates sit a dental preliminary exam first. We have no verified item count for the dental paper, so check the KHPLEI notice for the current format.

Physiotherapists: 물리치료사 국가시험

The physical therapist exam has a written MCQ paper of about 260 items and a practical MCQ section of about 80 items. Candidates are graduates of three- or four-year programmes, and the allied-health cohort runs to several thousand per year.

Exams in South Korea compared

Language and recognition

All exams are in Korean, and the preliminary exam for foreign graduates also requires Korean. There is no mutual recognition route that waives the exam, and no English-language paper. A foreign-trained candidate should budget for language study alongside the clinical revision, because the clinical skills tests are expected to be conducted in Korean.

Preparing in a one-institute system

Because KHPLEI controls both format and policy, changes tend to land across professions at the same time, such as the shift toward computer-based delivery. Read the Institute's notices each year. When you build a plan, separate the written paper from the clinical skills work: they need different practice, and the skills test cannot be crammed.

Last reviewed October 2026