South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare will, from the end of 2026, stop general practitioners (non-specialists) from displaying specialty names like dermatology or plastic surgery on clinic signage. The rule targets the common setup where a GP uses an exception clause to brand as a specialist clinic. GPs are about 10% of all physicians, and the measure applies to clinics with 29 beds or fewer. It only covers newly opened or relocated clinics, so existing operators keep their current signs.

There is a real loophole: window and outdoor advertisements can still carry specialty names, which critics say blunts the whole point. For the large field of GP-run Korean aesthetic clinics, signage and branding becomes a live compliance question rather than a settled one, and the gap between what your sign can say and what your window ad can say is now something to nail down before you open or relocate.

Source: Hankook Ilbo (한국일보) — https://www.hankookilbo.com/news/article/A2026061611320001159