Herbal Medicine in Korea "Alternative" is Mainstream

Abstract

W hile the United States and Canada have been experiencing an herbal medicine renaissance during the past 20 years, use of botanicals on this continent is still relatively small compared to use of mainstream medicine. In contrast, the situation in Korea* could not be more different. In Korea, one would be hard pressed to find a Korean who had not taken herbs at some point in his or her life. The number of adult Koreans who have seen traditional Korean medicine practitioners or otherwise utilized nonbiomedical health services or allopathic medicines ranges from 29 percent to 53 percent, depending on the survey taken.1 Among patients surveyed who were attending a university hospital clinic for arthritis treatment, 68.5 percent used at least one form of natural medicine in the past 12 months, primarily acupuncture or herbal medicine.2 Clearly, the average Korean’s awareness of herbal medicine is higher than that of many people in the United States and herbal medicine is absolutely mainstream in the culture of Korea. This article discusses some aspects of this situation and also explores the growing interest in Western herbal and natural medicine in Korea. Although many of these same statements could be made about China, much more has already been written on China, so the focus here is firmly on the lessdiscussed situation in Korea.