Govt cracks down on plastic surgery industry to protect tourists

The Republic of Korea announced on Friday a crackdown on illegal brokers and unregistered clinics in a bid to protect medical tourists, especially those drawn by the country's booming plastic surgery industry.

The Health Ministry unveiled a raft of measures drafted in response to a growing number of complaints over botched jobs and exorbitant billing, many of them filed by Chinese women who traveled to the ROK for cosmetic procedures.

A 50-year-old Chinese woman was left in a coma late last month after undergoing a procedure at a plastic surgery clinic in the upmarket Seoul district of Gangnam.