.png)
The Korea Medical Center (KMC), established in 1958, was one of Korea’s earliest and most significant donor-led development projects, funded and operated by Denmark, Norway, and Sweden through UNKRA. These countries provided construction funds, equipment, technical expertise, and long-term medical staff, creating Korea’s first modern general hospital. Beyond facilities, the donors prioritized system-building—training Korean doctors, improving hospital management capacity, and establishing governance structures. After the 1968 handover, the Korean government further upgraded the hospital with expanded facilities and new equipment.
Tags #inational medical center #development cooperation #technical assistance
The establishment of the Korea Medical Center (KMC) was one of the most prominent and representative of all Korea's development projects, made possible due to aid received from three Scandinavian countries — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Their joint grant-in-aid, delivered via the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA), funded the construction and operations of a medical center of an unprecedented scale in Korea. The timeline below traces the KMC's development from its origins in wartime relief, through a decade of donor-led operation, to its full transfer to and expansion by the Korean government.
Although the three Scandinavian countries did not dispatch any troops to the Korean War, they consistently provided emergency relief and medical aid throughout the war, as well as support for postwar rehabilitation and economic reconstruction. Denmark deployed its hospital vessel Jutlandia to Busan Port. Norway set up an itinerary surgery hospital in the Dongducheon area. Sweden opened a Red Cross hospital in Busan to provide a wide range of medical and health services.
Having traditionally focused on humanitarian aid, these three countries are among the most active and supportive providers of development aid worldwide. When the war ended, it was their joint grant-in-aid, delivered to Korea via the UNKRA, that funded the construction and operations of the KMC.
International aid for Korea's postwar rehabilitation originating from sources other than the United States was all delivered via the UNKRA. The three Scandinavian countries co-organized a medical aid program with the UNKRA, and signed a five-party agreement on March 13, 1956, with the Korean government and the UNKRA on setting up a national and public medical center in Korea.
The agreement detailed funding for the plan: the UNKRA was to provide USD 2.4 million for construction; the Scandinavian countries, USD 2 million together to support staff, facilities, and equipment; and the Korean government, USD 930,000 for the purchase of the hospital site and other related tasks. With an investment of USD 5.33 million in total, a general hospital of a national stature and scale came into being in 1958.
The project involved support not only for construction, but also for operational aspects including medical treatment and the education and training of medical staff. The three countries agreed to provide an additional USD 1.5 million each year together for five years after the hospital's opening in support of these elements.
.png)
Despite the multiple parties and complex nature of aid involved, the project proceeded without any obstacles or interruptions. The construction process, which began in September 1956, successfully came to completion in less than two years, allowing the hospital to open on March 10, 1958.
The hospital buildings included a main unit (9,127 square meters) with two floors below ground and seven above; an annex (3,097 square meters); and other ancillary facilities (totaling 21,870 square meters). The main building was also one of the first buildings in Korea with elevators, which, by themselves, drew in numerous onlookers.
The hospital was praised as the most modern and well-equipped in Asia at the time of its opening in 1958. The donated goods included not only pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, but also all amenities and supplies, even including meal trays for patients.
The donors also prioritized the human side of the project. The Korean government had asked that education and training of Korean medical staff be included rather than additional beds — and the hospital opened with 450 beds alongside a mandate for training. At the time of the KMC's opening, Korea relied exclusively on the doctors and administrators dispatched from the donor countries. The three countries agreed to send around 80 medical practitioners to the KMC; in actuality they sent more than 90.
A nursing college was set up as an affiliate of the hospital in 1959 and a five-year specialist training curriculum for doctors was adopted in 1960. The KMC produced 1,300 specialists, 1,500 nurses, and 2,200 medical technicians. Through agencies including NORAD, DANIDA, and SIDA, over 30 Korean doctors were sent abroad for long-term study, thus helping to improve the quality of medical practitioners in Korea dramatically.
Although the three Scandinavian countries had originally set out to assist in the operation of the KMC for the first five years only, at the end of this period they were requested by the Korean government to extend their support for another five years, until 1968, which they accepted. The Scandinavian Mission concluded that it was yet too early for them to withdraw their support from Korea.
The continued support was carried out based on an addendum to the original agreement, signed on June 19, 1964. The addendum required the Korean government to take over management of the hospital in October 1968, and detailed a comprehensive range of matters pertaining to hospital operation and preparations thereof. The addendum in this aspect provides a good example of project-type technical assistance.
The donor countries paid great attention to not only boosting the technical expertise of Korean medical staff, but also to enhancing and reinforcing Koreans' capacity to operate and manage the hospital. In particular they introduced a governing board, and also organized the Advisory Committee on Scholarship, which provided overseas training for selected Korean medical practitioners and technicians. The Scandinavian governments dispatched a hospital management specialist in 1965, and also invited two Korean hospital administrators for special training and education.
The number of doctors dispatched gradually decreased over time, especially after 1964, as the quality of Korean medical staff continued to improve. The Korean government took over control of the KMC in September 1968, after which the Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries.
The Korean government managed the KMC for about a decade after the donor countries withdrew without making any major new investment. In 1979, however, it borrowed foreign capital to purchase new cutting-edge medical equipment, and also invested domestic capital into expanding and upgrading hospital facilities overall. Between 1980 and 1983, the Korean government spent KRW 11.469 billion on building two new wards and adding 130 new beds, and also took out USD 9.925 million in development loans from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment and devices.
As private-sector medical institutions began to flourish in the early 1980s, improving on the quality of services and facilities, the KMC began to shift its focus to medical and related projects that private institutions were incapable of carrying out on their own. It created a blood center and provided emergency education for the first time in 1977; organized training programs for paramedics beginning in 1986; launched an organ transplant information center in 1998; and began operation of an organ transplant center and a central emergency center from 2000.
The KMC project was a representative social development program pursued during the postwar rehabilitation period in Korea. It is also noteworthy as a major case of development in which the donor countries led the way, providing the needed capital, technology, and human resources, as Korea, the recipient, was unable to do much beyond providing the site for the hospital. The KMC is also an example of a development aid case wherein the donor helped the recipient overcome capital and technology gaps by providing assistance in all aspects of project processes — from hospital construction and the purchase of medical equipment, to the training of medical and administrative staff and beyond.
The KMC project illustrates how consistent development aid can help the recipient country gradually enhance its capacity for development. The KMC, after having been managed by donor countries for 10 years, with great attention paid during that time to fostering Koreans' own capacity for management, eventually saw the successful transfer of its management to the Korean government. In the 1980s the Korean government fostered the hospital's capacities even more through facility expansion and equipment purchase — projects undertaken with the help of development loans, not grants.
The KMC project is a good case in point for showing what happens when development aid works. The involved parties identified clear goals in a traditional area of development aid, and pursued them according to thoroughgoing plans, thereby not only achieving the goals, but also ensuring the sustainability and long-term effectiveness of the project for decades to come. Furthermore, although the KMC project was bilateral in form, it also made good use of multilateral resources: financial support from the UNKRA for the construction of hospital facilities enabled the three Scandinavian donors to focus their attention on providing quality medical equipment and medical and administrative staff.
It is often the case that when multiple parties are involved in the same project, complications result. Such complications were bypassed in this case because the three donor countries maintained open channels of communication and ensured the consistency of the project's progress throughout the decade of support they provided, enabling the Korean government to inherit an already effective and well-organized hospital operation system. The donor countries' emphasis on the development of professional workforces and system management capacity helped Korea manage a major project like the KMC with effectiveness, while also paving the ground for the hospital's long-term sustainability.
The KMC, in the meantime, also focused its attention strategically on the comparative advantages offered by the donor countries, effectively avoiding problems associated with smaller scales of aid and also building much goodwill toward the donor countries.
The Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established in 1968 to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries. Founded on the basis of the accumulated proceeds that the KMC earned from foreign patients prior to its management transfer, the foundation not only commemorates the friendship that was formed between Korea and the three Scandinavian countries over medical efforts, but further promotes exchange and partnership among the involved countries. The foundation still remains active today, and keeps its headquarters in Seoul.
In addition to providing grants and fellowships for medical research and coordinating human exchange, the foundation also runs the Scandinavian Club, a buffet at the KMC. The club was initially created to provide Scandinavian medical staff residing in Korea during the early years of the KMC with meals from their home countries. Even after the Korean government took over management of the hospital, the club remained an integral part of the KMC, providing dishes of a distinctively Scandinavian taste to the Korean public.
The foundation and the Scandinavian Club represent the continuing friendship between Korea and Scandinavia even after the end of the KMC project, and also stand as examples of ways recipient countries may learn about the cultures of their donors
The Korea Medical Center (KMC), established in 1958, was one of Korea’s earliest and most significant donor-led development projects, funded and operated by Denmark, Norway, and Sweden through UNKRA. These countries provided construction funds, equipment, technical expertise, and long-term medical staff, creating Korea’s first modern general hospital. Beyond facilities, the donors prioritized system-building—training Korean doctors, improving hospital management capacity, and establishing governance structures. After the 1968 handover, the Korean government further upgraded the hospital with expanded facilities and new equipment.
Tags #inational medical center #development cooperation #technical assistance
The establishment of the Korea Medical Center (KMC) was one of the most prominent and representative of all Korea's development projects, made possible due to aid received from three Scandinavian countries — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Their joint grant-in-aid, delivered via the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA), funded the construction and operations of a medical center of an unprecedented scale in Korea. The timeline below traces the KMC's development from its origins in wartime relief, through a decade of donor-led operation, to its full transfer to and expansion by the Korean government.
Although the three Scandinavian countries did not dispatch any troops to the Korean War, they consistently provided emergency relief and medical aid throughout the war, as well as support for postwar rehabilitation and economic reconstruction. Denmark deployed its hospital vessel Jutlandia to Busan Port. Norway set up an itinerary surgery hospital in the Dongducheon area. Sweden opened a Red Cross hospital in Busan to provide a wide range of medical and health services.
Having traditionally focused on humanitarian aid, these three countries are among the most active and supportive providers of development aid worldwide. When the war ended, it was their joint grant-in-aid, delivered to Korea via the UNKRA, that funded the construction and operations of the KMC.
International aid for Korea's postwar rehabilitation originating from sources other than the United States was all delivered via the UNKRA. The three Scandinavian countries co-organized a medical aid program with the UNKRA, and signed a five-party agreement on March 13, 1956, with the Korean government and the UNKRA on setting up a national and public medical center in Korea.
The agreement detailed funding for the plan: the UNKRA was to provide USD 2.4 million for construction; the Scandinavian countries, USD 2 million together to support staff, facilities, and equipment; and the Korean government, USD 930,000 for the purchase of the hospital site and other related tasks. With an investment of USD 5.33 million in total, a general hospital of a national stature and scale came into being in 1958.
The project involved support not only for construction, but also for operational aspects including medical treatment and the education and training of medical staff. The three countries agreed to provide an additional USD 1.5 million each year together for five years after the hospital's opening in support of these elements.
Despite the multiple parties and complex nature of aid involved, the project proceeded without any obstacles or interruptions. The construction process, which began in September 1956, successfully came to completion in less than two years, allowing the hospital to open on March 10, 1958.
The hospital buildings included a main unit (9,127 square meters) with two floors below ground and seven above; an annex (3,097 square meters); and other ancillary facilities (totaling 21,870 square meters). The main building was also one of the first buildings in Korea with elevators, which, by themselves, drew in numerous onlookers.
The hospital was praised as the most modern and well-equipped in Asia at the time of its opening in 1958. The donated goods included not only pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, but also all amenities and supplies, even including meal trays for patients.
The donors also prioritized the human side of the project. The Korean government had asked that education and training of Korean medical staff be included rather than additional beds — and the hospital opened with 450 beds alongside a mandate for training. At the time of the KMC's opening, Korea relied exclusively on the doctors and administrators dispatched from the donor countries. The three countries agreed to send around 80 medical practitioners to the KMC; in actuality they sent more than 90.
A nursing college was set up as an affiliate of the hospital in 1959 and a five-year specialist training curriculum for doctors was adopted in 1960. The KMC produced 1,300 specialists, 1,500 nurses, and 2,200 medical technicians. Through agencies including NORAD, DANIDA, and SIDA, over 30 Korean doctors were sent abroad for long-term study, thus helping to improve the quality of medical practitioners in Korea dramatically.
Although the three Scandinavian countries had originally set out to assist in the operation of the KMC for the first five years only, at the end of this period they were requested by the Korean government to extend their support for another five years, until 1968, which they accepted. The Scandinavian Mission concluded that it was yet too early for them to withdraw their support from Korea.
The continued support was carried out based on an addendum to the original agreement, signed on June 19, 1964. The addendum required the Korean government to take over management of the hospital in October 1968, and detailed a comprehensive range of matters pertaining to hospital operation and preparations thereof. The addendum in this aspect provides a good example of project-type technical assistance.
The donor countries paid great attention to not only boosting the technical expertise of Korean medical staff, but also to enhancing and reinforcing Koreans' capacity to operate and manage the hospital. In particular they introduced a governing board, and also organized the Advisory Committee on Scholarship, which provided overseas training for selected Korean medical practitioners and technicians. The Scandinavian governments dispatched a hospital management specialist in 1965, and also invited two Korean hospital administrators for special training and education.
The number of doctors dispatched gradually decreased over time, especially after 1964, as the quality of Korean medical staff continued to improve. The Korean government took over control of the KMC in September 1968, after which the Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries.
The Korean government managed the KMC for about a decade after the donor countries withdrew without making any major new investment. In 1979, however, it borrowed foreign capital to purchase new cutting-edge medical equipment, and also invested domestic capital into expanding and upgrading hospital facilities overall. Between 1980 and 1983, the Korean government spent KRW 11.469 billion on building two new wards and adding 130 new beds, and also took out USD 9.925 million in development loans from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment and devices.
As private-sector medical institutions began to flourish in the early 1980s, improving on the quality of services and facilities, the KMC began to shift its focus to medical and related projects that private institutions were incapable of carrying out on their own. It created a blood center and provided emergency education for the first time in 1977; organized training programs for paramedics beginning in 1986; launched an organ transplant information center in 1998; and began operation of an organ transplant center and a central emergency center from 2000.
The KMC project was a representative social development program pursued during the postwar rehabilitation period in Korea. It is also noteworthy as a major case of development in which the donor countries led the way, providing the needed capital, technology, and human resources, as Korea, the recipient, was unable to do much beyond providing the site for the hospital. The KMC is also an example of a development aid case wherein the donor helped the recipient overcome capital and technology gaps by providing assistance in all aspects of project processes — from hospital construction and the purchase of medical equipment, to the training of medical and administrative staff and beyond.
The KMC project illustrates how consistent development aid can help the recipient country gradually enhance its capacity for development. The KMC, after having been managed by donor countries for 10 years, with great attention paid during that time to fostering Koreans' own capacity for management, eventually saw the successful transfer of its management to the Korean government. In the 1980s the Korean government fostered the hospital's capacities even more through facility expansion and equipment purchase — projects undertaken with the help of development loans, not grants.
The KMC project is a good case in point for showing what happens when development aid works. The involved parties identified clear goals in a traditional area of development aid, and pursued them according to thoroughgoing plans, thereby not only achieving the goals, but also ensuring the sustainability and long-term effectiveness of the project for decades to come. Furthermore, although the KMC project was bilateral in form, it also made good use of multilateral resources: financial support from the UNKRA for the construction of hospital facilities enabled the three Scandinavian donors to focus their attention on providing quality medical equipment and medical and administrative staff.
It is often the case that when multiple parties are involved in the same project, complications result. Such complications were bypassed in this case because the three donor countries maintained open channels of communication and ensured the consistency of the project's progress throughout the decade of support they provided, enabling the Korean government to inherit an already effective and well-organized hospital operation system. The donor countries' emphasis on the development of professional workforces and system management capacity helped Korea manage a major project like the KMC with effectiveness, while also paving the ground for the hospital's long-term sustainability.
The KMC, in the meantime, also focused its attention strategically on the comparative advantages offered by the donor countries, effectively avoiding problems associated with smaller scales of aid and also building much goodwill toward the donor countries.
The Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established in 1968 to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries. Founded on the basis of the accumulated proceeds that the KMC earned from foreign patients prior to its management transfer, the foundation not only commemorates the friendship that was formed between Korea and the three Scandinavian countries over medical efforts, but further promotes exchange and partnership among the involved countries. The foundation still remains active today, and keeps its headquarters in Seoul.
In addition to providing grants and fellowships for medical research and coordinating human exchange, the foundation also runs the Scandinavian Club, a buffet at the KMC. The club was initially created to provide Scandinavian medical staff residing in Korea during the early years of the KMC with meals from their home countries. Even after the Korean government took over management of the hospital, the club remained an integral part of the KMC, providing dishes of a distinctively Scandinavian taste to the Korean public.
The foundation and the Scandinavian Club represent the continuing friendship between Korea and Scandinavia even after the end of the KMC project, and also stand as examples of ways recipient countries may learn about the cultures of their donors
The establishment of the Korea Medical Center (KMC) was one of the most prominent and representative of all Korea's development projects, made possible due to aid received from three Scandinavian countries — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Their joint grant-in-aid, delivered via the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA), funded the construction and operations of a medical center of an unprecedented scale in Korea. The timeline below traces the KMC's development from its origins in wartime relief, through a decade of donor-led operation, to its full transfer to and expansion by the Korean government.
Although the three Scandinavian countries did not dispatch any troops to the Korean War, they consistently provided emergency relief and medical aid throughout the war, as well as support for postwar rehabilitation and economic reconstruction. Denmark deployed its hospital vessel Jutlandia to Busan Port. Norway set up an itinerary surgery hospital in the Dongducheon area. Sweden opened a Red Cross hospital in Busan to provide a wide range of medical and health services.
Having traditionally focused on humanitarian aid, these three countries are among the most active and supportive providers of development aid worldwide. When the war ended, it was their joint grant-in-aid, delivered to Korea via the UNKRA, that funded the construction and operations of the KMC.
International aid for Korea's postwar rehabilitation originating from sources other than the United States was all delivered via the UNKRA. The three Scandinavian countries co-organized a medical aid program with the UNKRA, and signed a five-party agreement on March 13, 1956, with the Korean government and the UNKRA on setting up a national and public medical center in Korea.
The agreement detailed funding for the plan: the UNKRA was to provide USD 2.4 million for construction; the Scandinavian countries, USD 2 million together to support staff, facilities, and equipment; and the Korean government, USD 930,000 for the purchase of the hospital site and other related tasks. With an investment of USD 5.33 million in total, a general hospital of a national stature and scale came into being in 1958.
The project involved support not only for construction, but also for operational aspects including medical treatment and the education and training of medical staff. The three countries agreed to provide an additional USD 1.5 million each year together for five years after the hospital's opening in support of these elements.
Despite the multiple parties and complex nature of aid involved, the project proceeded without any obstacles or interruptions. The construction process, which began in September 1956, successfully came to completion in less than two years, allowing the hospital to open on March 10, 1958.
The hospital buildings included a main unit (9,127 square meters) with two floors below ground and seven above; an annex (3,097 square meters); and other ancillary facilities (totaling 21,870 square meters). The main building was also one of the first buildings in Korea with elevators, which, by themselves, drew in numerous onlookers.
The hospital was praised as the most modern and well-equipped in Asia at the time of its opening in 1958. The donated goods included not only pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, but also all amenities and supplies, even including meal trays for patients.
The donors also prioritized the human side of the project. The Korean government had asked that education and training of Korean medical staff be included rather than additional beds — and the hospital opened with 450 beds alongside a mandate for training. At the time of the KMC's opening, Korea relied exclusively on the doctors and administrators dispatched from the donor countries. The three countries agreed to send around 80 medical practitioners to the KMC; in actuality they sent more than 90.
A nursing college was set up as an affiliate of the hospital in 1959 and a five-year specialist training curriculum for doctors was adopted in 1960. The KMC produced 1,300 specialists, 1,500 nurses, and 2,200 medical technicians. Through agencies including NORAD, DANIDA, and SIDA, over 30 Korean doctors were sent abroad for long-term study, thus helping to improve the quality of medical practitioners in Korea dramatically.
Although the three Scandinavian countries had originally set out to assist in the operation of the KMC for the first five years only, at the end of this period they were requested by the Korean government to extend their support for another five years, until 1968, which they accepted. The Scandinavian Mission concluded that it was yet too early for them to withdraw their support from Korea.
The continued support was carried out based on an addendum to the original agreement, signed on June 19, 1964. The addendum required the Korean government to take over management of the hospital in October 1968, and detailed a comprehensive range of matters pertaining to hospital operation and preparations thereof. The addendum in this aspect provides a good example of project-type technical assistance.
The donor countries paid great attention to not only boosting the technical expertise of Korean medical staff, but also to enhancing and reinforcing Koreans' capacity to operate and manage the hospital. In particular they introduced a governing board, and also organized the Advisory Committee on Scholarship, which provided overseas training for selected Korean medical practitioners and technicians. The Scandinavian governments dispatched a hospital management specialist in 1965, and also invited two Korean hospital administrators for special training and education.
The number of doctors dispatched gradually decreased over time, especially after 1964, as the quality of Korean medical staff continued to improve. The Korean government took over control of the KMC in September 1968, after which the Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries.
The Korean government managed the KMC for about a decade after the donor countries withdrew without making any major new investment. In 1979, however, it borrowed foreign capital to purchase new cutting-edge medical equipment, and also invested domestic capital into expanding and upgrading hospital facilities overall. Between 1980 and 1983, the Korean government spent KRW 11.469 billion on building two new wards and adding 130 new beds, and also took out USD 9.925 million in development loans from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment and devices.
As private-sector medical institutions began to flourish in the early 1980s, improving on the quality of services and facilities, the KMC began to shift its focus to medical and related projects that private institutions were incapable of carrying out on their own. It created a blood center and provided emergency education for the first time in 1977; organized training programs for paramedics beginning in 1986; launched an organ transplant information center in 1998; and began operation of an organ transplant center and a central emergency center from 2000.
The KMC project was a representative social development program pursued during the postwar rehabilitation period in Korea. It is also noteworthy as a major case of development in which the donor countries led the way, providing the needed capital, technology, and human resources, as Korea, the recipient, was unable to do much beyond providing the site for the hospital. The KMC is also an example of a development aid case wherein the donor helped the recipient overcome capital and technology gaps by providing assistance in all aspects of project processes — from hospital construction and the purchase of medical equipment, to the training of medical and administrative staff and beyond.
The KMC project illustrates how consistent development aid can help the recipient country gradually enhance its capacity for development. The KMC, after having been managed by donor countries for 10 years, with great attention paid during that time to fostering Koreans' own capacity for management, eventually saw the successful transfer of its management to the Korean government. In the 1980s the Korean government fostered the hospital's capacities even more through facility expansion and equipment purchase — projects undertaken with the help of development loans, not grants.
The KMC project is a good case in point for showing what happens when development aid works. The involved parties identified clear goals in a traditional area of development aid, and pursued them according to thoroughgoing plans, thereby not only achieving the goals, but also ensuring the sustainability and long-term effectiveness of the project for decades to come. Furthermore, although the KMC project was bilateral in form, it also made good use of multilateral resources: financial support from the UNKRA for the construction of hospital facilities enabled the three Scandinavian donors to focus their attention on providing quality medical equipment and medical and administrative staff.
It is often the case that when multiple parties are involved in the same project, complications result. Such complications were bypassed in this case because the three donor countries maintained open channels of communication and ensured the consistency of the project's progress throughout the decade of support they provided, enabling the Korean government to inherit an already effective and well-organized hospital operation system. The donor countries' emphasis on the development of professional workforces and system management capacity helped Korea manage a major project like the KMC with effectiveness, while also paving the ground for the hospital's long-term sustainability.
The KMC, in the meantime, also focused its attention strategically on the comparative advantages offered by the donor countries, effectively avoiding problems associated with smaller scales of aid and also building much goodwill toward the donor countries.
The Korea-Scandinavia Foundation was established in 1968 to promote continued medical and cultural exchange between Korea and the three countries. Founded on the basis of the accumulated proceeds that the KMC earned from foreign patients prior to its management transfer, the foundation not only commemorates the friendship that was formed between Korea and the three Scandinavian countries over medical efforts, but further promotes exchange and partnership among the involved countries. The foundation still remains active today, and keeps its headquarters in Seoul.
In addition to providing grants and fellowships for medical research and coordinating human exchange, the foundation also runs the Scandinavian Club, a buffet at the KMC. The club was initially created to provide Scandinavian medical staff residing in Korea during the early years of the KMC with meals from their home countries. Even after the Korean government took over management of the hospital, the club remained an integral part of the KMC, providing dishes of a distinctively Scandinavian taste to the Korean public.
The foundation and the Scandinavian Club represent the continuing friendship between Korea and Scandinavia even after the end of the KMC project, and also stand as examples of ways recipient countries may learn about the cultures of their donors