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By Kim Jae-heun
Nearly 50,000 foreigners came to Korea last year to get plastic surgery, spending 215 billion won ($1.8 million) on their procedures, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Thursday.
The data, revealed by Rep. Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea, showed 397,882 foreigners visited the country for medical treatments of all kinds, spending a total 639.9 billion won.
The number was down 6.5 percent compared to 2016, and medical spending also dropped by 25.6 percent.
However, the number of people receiving plastic surgery increased by 968 to 48,849, making up 12.3 percent of the total.
Spending on plastic surgery has quadrupled from 52.5 billion won in 2012 to 215 billion won last year, accounting for 33.6 percent of total medical fees paid by foreign patients.
By department, 20.2 percent of foreign patients received treatment in internal medicine, followed by 12.3 percent in plastic surgery, 10.9 percent in dermatology and 9.8 percent who had medical checkups.
