Cancer in Korea: Prevention, Screening and Care

Cancer occurs when abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and spread to other tissues. It encompasses over 100 distinct diseases, each with different causes, behaviours, and treatments. Korea's cancer burden includes globally common cancers — lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer — as well as stomach cancer, which occurs at a notably higher rate in Korea than in most Western countries, linked to dietary patterns (salted and preserved foods) and Helicobacter pylori infection.

Korea's cancer care is centred at leading institutions including the National Cancer Center and major hospitals such as Samsung Medical Center and Asan Medical Center, which provide medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, haematology, and multidisciplinary cancer team care to international standards, offering chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and radiation therapy.

Prevention and early detection are Korea's most powerful tools. The National Cancer Screening Programme, run through NHIS, is one of the most comprehensive in the world — offering stomach cancer screening (endoscopy, given Korea's high incidence), mammography for breast cancer, cervical cancer screening (Pap smear, HPV test), liver cancer screening for high-risk groups, and colorectal cancer screening (stool tests and colonoscopy). The HPV vaccine, part of Korea's national immunisation schedule, prevents the vast majority of cervical cancers. Lifestyle factors — not smoking, maintaining healthy weight, limiting alcohol, reducing salted/preserved food intake, sun protection — significantly reduce cancer risk.