Greetings   Korean Oriental Medicine or KOM, has played an important role in the caring and treatment of health and diseases of Korean people for centuries. Over the past two decades Korea has accelerated its R&D, investment, and industrial technological development in KOM.

  In line with the 21st-century health-medical mainstream trend of demographic changes such as aging, cutting technological advances such as bio-engineering, and consumer-oriented market system, the role of KOM that has philosophy of "whole system concept" in treating people has become increasingly important.

  The Association of Korean Oriental Medicine (AKOM) is a central organization of KOM. With over half-acentury history, the AKOM has made important contributions to the improvement of Korean healthcare service with a scientific approach overcoming various challenges and offering insightful visions. The AKOM makes an effort to prove the effectiveness of KOM by strengthening evidence-based study, developing guidelines for clinical treatment, and promoting international standardization of KOM. Also AKOM it exerted itself to breed up competent Korean Oriental Medicine doctors who is qualified as national medical care professions and streamlining various laws and regulations regarding continuing education and medical license.

  KOM doctors currently have to undergo six years of undergraduate courses and four years of specialist courses. In Korea, there are about 20,000 KOM doctors in 12,000 KOM clinics and 150 KOM hospitals and university hospitals. There are 12 KOM universities, and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, a government research institute, is playing a central role in conducting researches on KOM. KOM has remarkably changed into 'modern' and 'comprehensive' medicine with the variety of application of scientific technology to its diagnosis and treatment, so that the modifier "oriental" to represent Korean Oriental Medicine with very long history seems very awkward in this days. Grafting scientific and expert method of diagnosis and treatment based on the philosophical ground of humanitarian and of a whole organism system, KOM is poised to play an essential role in the 21st century for public health and medicine.

  Now the AKOM will pay a keen attention to treating incurable diseases, anti-aging and extending healthy human life so that all humanities can live a healthy and quality life, and the association will challenge new tasks to make KOM known to the world by improving KOM's value and objectivity in terms of treatment.

  I believe firmly that KOM with thousands of years of wisdom will develop itself as a medicine enhancing the quality of life of the people throughout the world. Lastly, I sincerely hoping that many colleagues and experts, in and abroad, back with much of interest and full support toward AKOM pursuing the goal and endless challenges.

    Thank you.