Commercial Disclosure

International patients reading a Korea medical-tourism directory have a reasonable interest in knowing how the publisher makes its money — whether the clinics on the page paid for inclusion, whether outbound links are commercial referrals, and what regulatory framework the publisher operates under. Gangnam Meditour is operated by HEIM GLOBAL, a Korean company registered with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) as a foreign-patient-attraction facilitator under registration number A-2026-04-02-06873. That registration is the licence Korean medical-tourism agencies are legally required to hold, and it is what permits us to receive referral fees from Korean clinics for international-patient introductions. This page sets out, in concrete terms, what commercial relationships exist, where they sit relative to editorial coverage, and how to identify a sponsored outbound link when you encounter one on this site.

What HEIM GLOBAL is, in regulatory terms

HEIM GLOBAL is registered with KHIDI under the foreign-patient-attraction registration scheme established under Article 27-2 of the Medical Service Act and elaborated in Article 56(4). Our registration number is A-2026-04-02-06873; our business registration number is 405-04-54000. Under this regime, we are legally permitted to introduce international patients to Korean medical institutions and to receive referral fees from those institutions for confirmed patient introductions. We are not a medical institution; we do not provide diagnoses, prescribe treatments, or perform procedures. Editorial work — the directory, the platform overviews, the regional guides, the pricing references — is performed by an internal editorial team operating under the HEIM GLOBAL banner.

What a sponsored outbound link means

Some outbound links on Gangnam Meditour carry a `rel="sponsored"` attribute. This is the W3C-recommended way to mark a link that exists, in part, because a commercial relationship exists between this publisher and the link's destination. In our case, a sponsored link typically means one of two things: either the destination is a clinic that has a referral arrangement with HEIM GLOBAL (so a confirmed introduction generates a referral fee), or the destination is one of the specialised publisher archives we operate alongside this directory (in which case the commercial arrangement is internal but the disclosure standard remains the same). Outbound links to neutral authorities — KHIDI, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korean Society of Dermatology — are not sponsored. Sponsored links are functionally equivalent to editorial links from the reader's perspective; the distinction matters only for search-engine signal hygiene and, more importantly, for transparency about how this publication is funded.

What editorial inclusion does and does not mean

A clinic mentioned in a Gangnam Meditour article is mentioned because our editorial team finds the clinic professionally interesting in the context of the article — its physician credentials, its platform authorisation, its aftercare structure, its multilingual support. Editorial inclusion is independent of commercial relationships in three specific senses, all documented in our [editorial policy](/editorial-policy/): we do not exclude clinics that decline commercial arrangements; we do not include clinics that fail editorial standards even where commercial arrangements are offered; and we do not adjust the order or framing of coverage in exchange for commercial consideration. Where a clinic mentioned in editorial coverage also happens to have a commercial relationship with HEIM GLOBAL, the relevant outbound link carries the sponsored attribute. Editorial mention without a sponsored link does not, by itself, mean a commercial relationship exists; it usually means we have nowhere on the article to link to that clinic's outbound coordinator channel.

How we handle pricing references

Pricing references on Gangnam Meditour — for example, the [pricing guide](/pricing-guide/) — are sourced from public clinic price lists at the time of review. We update these references quarterly. We do not publish prices a clinic has not itself published, and we do not synthesise prices across clinics into composite figures that misrepresent any individual clinic's actual price. Where a clinic with a commercial relationship has a public price list, that price list is treated identically to any other clinic's: we cite it, attribute it, and update it on the next review. The commercial relationship does not entitle the clinic to a more favourable representation of its pricing.

How to identify and report concerns

Readers who believe a Gangnam Meditour article overstates the case for a clinic with which HEIM GLOBAL has a commercial relationship — or, conversely, understates the case for a clinic with which we do not — are invited to write to the editorial team with specifics. Readers concerned about the conduct of a KHIDI-registered facilitator can contact KHIDI directly through the international medical-services portal. The Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare maintains regulatory oversight of the foreign-patient-attraction sector under the Medical Service Act framework. We accept that any commercial publisher operating in this category bears a higher burden of disclosure than a non-commercial directory would; this page is part of that burden.

Frequently asked questions

Do clinics pay you to be listed?

Some clinics have referral arrangements with HEIM GLOBAL where confirmed international-patient introductions generate a referral fee. These arrangements do not buy editorial inclusion — clinics that fail our editorial standards are not listed regardless of willingness to pay. Where a commercial arrangement exists, the outbound coordinator link carries a sponsored attribute.

How can I tell which links are sponsored?

Sponsored outbound links carry an HTML `rel="sponsored noopener"` attribute, which most browsers do not display visually but which search engines read. In practice, outbound links to clinic coordinator channels (WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat) on this directory are typically sponsored; outbound links to government authorities (KHIDI, MOHW) and academic societies are not.

What does HEIM GLOBAL receive when I contact a clinic through your link?

Where the destination clinic has a referral arrangement with HEIM GLOBAL, we receive a referral fee on confirmed bookings — the structure of that fee varies by clinic and is governed by individual contracts. Where no referral arrangement exists, we receive nothing; the link still exists because our editorial team finds the clinic professionally relevant.

Are you regulated?

Yes. HEIM GLOBAL is registered with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) under registration A-2026-04-02-06873 as a foreign-patient-attraction facilitator. The registration is legally required for our business activity under Article 27-2 of the Korean Medical Service Act. Our registration is searchable on the KHIDI international medical-services portal.

Does a referral arrangement affect the price I pay at the clinic?

Referral fees are paid by clinics to HEIM GLOBAL out of clinic margin; they are not added to the patient's bill. International patients pay the clinic's published price for the treatment they receive. Where you suspect the clinic is quoting a different price than its published list, please report this to us — pricing transparency is a baseline editorial requirement.