South Korea opposes easier foreign access:

The Korea Medical Equipment Industrial Association has launched a campaign to resist mounting pressure from the US to open up South Korea's medical equipment market to foreign competition. In its defence, the association notes that in 1993 South Korea imported equipment valued at $436 million, including $107 million from the US. In 1994, this rose to a total of $674 million, of which $208 million was accounted for by imports from the US, says Pharma Koreana. South Korean medical equipment exports totalled no more than $12 million in 1993 and $14 million in 1994, according to the industry association. It argues that the country's "vulnerable medical equipment industry will be squeezed out of business if the market is fully opened to foreign suppliers".