South Korea's government has begun formal work on legislation to support digital healthcare, but a public hearing at the National Assembly on Monday revealed a sharp divide over how far to expand data access. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and Rep. Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea convened the hearing to discuss the proposed Act on Digital Healthcare and the Promotion of Health and Medical Information Utilization. Medical associations and civic groups demanded stronger personal information protections and clearer accountability, while industry representatives warned that delays in passing the bill could undermine the country's competitiveness in artificial intelligence and healthcare innovation.
What the bill includes
The legislation would require the government to draft five-year master plans and create legal grounds for several existing initiatives, including the data-driven hospital program and the Health Information Highway platform. It would grant patients the right to request that their personal health information be transferred, and it would establish a formal review system for health data utilization. Choi Kyung-il, director of the ministry's Medical Information Policy Division, said the goal is to build a support system for digital healthcare, enable safe data use, and encourage growth in the sector. Kim Jae-sun, a professor at Dongguk University Law School, said that without a dedicated law, regulatory uncertainty around pseudonymized data and data linkage would continue to stall innovation.
Privacy concerns and demands for transparency
Multiple speakers urged the government to prioritize safeguards over speed. Lee Yoon-pyo, director of information and communications at the Korean Pharmaceutical Association, said the bill puts too much weight on industry applications and argued that sharing information among healthcare providers and protecting patient safety should come first. Park Si-eun, spokesperson for Healthcare Policy Solidarity, noted that medical data is produced by multiple professionals, not a single group, and that an imbalance exists between the burden of generating data and the authority to use it. She added that AI should remain a support tool, with clear liability rules for any adverse outcomes.
Kim Hyeong-gap of the Korean Medical Association criticized the bill for emphasizing data collection and distribution while offering minimal protections for AI applications. He called for greater transparency in data processing and stronger rights for those who create the data. Yang Moon-sul of the Korean Hospital Association asked how the economic value from data would flow back to patients and hospitals, and he urged compensation mechanisms for data management costs. Choi Ho-woong of Lawyers for a Democratic Society warned that a centralized national medical information system could erode individuals' control over their own data.
Calls for rapid legislation to keep pace with AI
Industry backers stressed that a legal framework is overdue. Professor Seo Joon-beom of Asan Medical Center said data infrastructure is critical for developing domestic medical AI systems and foundation models. Cha Dong-cheol, head of Naver's Healthcare Innovation Center, called for a data valuation model that hospitals, companies, and patients can all accept, along with regulatory changes suited to generative AI. Kim Mi-young, president of the Korea Type 1 Diabetes Association, said patients should be active participants in data use, not passive subjects, and that practical benefits have already appeared while institutions have lagged behind. Jeong Ji-yeon of the Consumers Union of Korea welcomed the bill's stronger privacy protections compared to earlier proposals but said maintaining public trust is non-negotiable.
Ministry says the bill already addresses key disputes
Choi Kyung-il pushed back against several criticisms, saying that many of the raised issues are already resolved in the draft text. "If you look closely at the bill, many of these concerns have already been resolved," he said. "The proposal deliberately excludes highly controversial issues and focuses on measures that are currently feasible from a social consensus perspective." He added that the ministry coordinated with the Personal Information Protection Commission and that the bill aligns with the Personal Information Protection Act. On concerns about cybersecurity, Choi said the Health Information Highway platform has never been hacked and maintains strong safeguards. He also clarified that the bill covers standardized electronic information, not physicians' clinical judgment records. "It is not structured to collect or transmit physicians' diagnostic opinions or clinical judgment records themselves," he said.
Why this matters for healthcare
For professionals in clinical and administrative roles, the legislation will reshape how patient data moves between institutions and into research. The right to transfer personal health information could shift power toward patients, while the expansion of data linkage may open new diagnostic tools and AI-driven decision support. Healthcare professionals navigating this transition can deepen their understanding through targeted AI for Healthcare resources. With lawmakers now reviewing the bill and requesting detailed revision proposals, the next steps will determine how South Korea balances innovation with the privacy and accountability standards that healthcare workers and patients depend on every day.
Your membership also unlocks:
