In 1978, the Hospital affiliated with the College of Medicine of SNU was reborn as SNUH, a special corporation, to raise medical service in South Korea to world-class levels by maximizing its autonomy and efficiency. Article 1 of the Establishment of the Seoul National University Hospital Act, legislated at that time, reads, "The purpose [of the present Act] lies in promoting the development of medicine and contributing to the improvement of the national public health by establishing Seoul National University Hospital and providing education, research, examination, and treatment in medicine and dentistry.” The clear implication of this is that SNUH was officially and legally recognized as the center of national medical service.

At the same time as its incorporation, the new hospital building, a long-cherished dream of SNUH, was finally completed. With 1 floor underground and 13 floors aboveground and hospitalization and examination facilities including 1,056 beds and a capacity for over 2,000 outpatients, it was the largest hospital in Northeast Asia at the time. In this way, SNUH consolidated its basis as the representative hospital of South Korea, and its role as the hub of medical research.

Since then, SNUH has pioneered medical service in South Korea by launching the Children's Hospital in 1985, operating the Seoul Metropolitan Government-SNU Boramae Medical Center on consignment in 1987, establishing SNU Bundang Hospital specialized in elderly and adult diseases and SNU Hospital (Health Care System) Gangnam Center specialized in health checkups in 2003, and opening the Cancer Hospital in 2011 to become a global leader in the fight against cancer.

In terms of medicine and medical practice, SNUH has been responsible for many medical ‘firsts’ in Korea, including the first successful delivery of a test tube baby, as well as the first liver transplantation, partial liver transplantation, and non-heart-beating donor liver transplantation. In addition, it has developed the world’s smallest artificial heart. SNUH researchers also successfully isolated the hepatitis C virus serum and developed a new liver cancer test method, both of which were world firsts. SNUH was also the world's first single institution to perform 20,000 gastric cancer surgeries, and 10,000 thyroid cancer surgeries. With these achievements, SNUH is breaking new ground for South Korean medicine. In terms of medical research, the medical staff at SNU College of Medicine and SNUH published more than 1,000 papers in academic journals registered in the Science Citation Index (SCI) in a single year for the first time in 2005, then went on to top this by publishing 1,620 SCI-registered papers in 2010, showing substantial growth. In addition, SNUH formed the Public Health Medical Services in 2006 and has engaged in medical volunteer service for medically underprivileged groups, both domestically and internationally.

In conclusion, SNUH not only faithfully plays a role consistent with its reputation as the national central hospital of South Korea, but has also been working continuously to bring medical service in South Korea to a world-class level.

In 1946, a year after Korea’s Liberation from Japanese rule, SNU was established. At the time, the Medical School of the former Gyeongseong Imperial University and the former Gyeongseong Medical College were combined to launch the SNU College of Medicine, and the Hospital affiliated with the Medical School of the former Gyeongseong Imperial University became the Affiliated Hospital of the College of Medicine of SNU.

Amidst the political and ideological maelstrom that immediately followed the Liberation, the SNU College of Medicine and its affiliated hospital devoted their energy to research, education, examination, and treatment. During the Korean War, they continued to provide medical education by operating the Wartime United University in Busan, and did their utmost to examine and treat local residents and refugees by operating relief hospitals on Jeju Island and in Busan. From 1954 to 1961, they repaired facilities through the Minnesota Project and introduced the latest medicine and medical education methodologies through the faculty members' training in the United States. As a result, departments including the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Anesthesiology, and Department of Clinical Pathology came to secure the foundation for development, and the internship/residency system was established. The hospital performed Korea’s first ever open-heart surgery using a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in 1963, and became the first in the world to successfully isolate the hepatitis B virus antigen, developing and commercializing a vaccine during the 1970s.

Ultimately, despite and amidst adverse social conditions including the division of the nation into North and South Korea, war, and economic hardships, the Hospital affiliated with the College of Medicine of SNU led medicine and medical service in South Korea, thus contributing to the national life and social development through the healing arts. In particular, it fulfilled its mission as the central national hospital by faithfully serving as a central base for the introduction and dissemination of advanced medicine, and fostering numerous medical scientists through systematic training, thus allowing them to become medical staff at medical schools across the country.

Executed in 1910, Japan’s annexation of Korea spelled immense disaster for the entire nation in all fields, including politics, the economy, society, and culture. The field of medical service was no exception. Due to Japanese occupation, Korea’s efforts to establish the basis of modern medicine with our own hands were frustrated. Immediately after the annexation, Daehan Hospital was reorganized into Jung'ang Hospital, then into the Government-General of Korea (GGK) Hospital. Likewise, the Medical School affiliated with Daehan Hospital was reorganized as the Medical Training School affiliated with the GGK Hospital. All fields constituting hospitals and medical education including operation, organization, and manpower were changed into a system focused on the Japanese. Except for a minority of ethnic Koreans, all major staff members of hospitals and schools including hospital directors, physicians, professors, pharmacists, assistants, administrative officers, and interpreters came to be replaced by the Japanese.

With the proclamation of the Ordinance on Professional Schools in 1916, the Medical Training School affiliated with GGK Hospital was promoted as Gyeongseong Medical College. The director of the GGK Hospital also served as the dean while the medical officers and physicians from the same institution served as professors, and GGK Hospital came to function as an internship hospital for Gyeongseong Medical College. Following the launch of the Medical School of Gyeongseong Imperial University in 1926, GGK Hospital was reorganized into the Hospital affiliated with the Medical School of Gyeongseong Imperial University in 1928, and Gyeongseong Medical College established its own affiliated hospital separately in Sokyuk-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Although the number of ethnic Korean physicians and medical scientists increased somewhat, all duties continued to be performed under Japanese supervision, making it nearly impossible for ethnic Koreans to become physicians at the affiliated hospitals or professors at the schools. But despite such adverse environments and conditions, the ethnic Korean medical school students and physicians at the Medical School of Gyeongseong Imperial University, Gyeongseong Medical College, and the two affiliated hospitals diligently studied advanced medicine and developed into capable medical specialists who went on to lead South Korean medicine following the Liberation.

Following the opening of the nation’s doors to the world in 1876, King Gojong and the government of the Joseon Dynasty established and set out to implement a modernization project on a national scale. Here, they focused also on the modernization of medicine. Consequently, through an inspection party that was dispatched to Japan in 1881, they explored Western medicine, and through the Hanseong Sunbo, the government bulletin, informed the people of the need for Western medical education in 1884. When Robert S. Maclay, an American Methodist missionary, entered Korea and suggested the foundation of a Western-style hospital, he was granted royal permission. Later in 1884, the Gapsin Coup was executed. In the course of events, Horace N. Allen, an American physician-missionary, saved the life of Min, Yeong Ik, a high-ranking government official who had been stabbed by an assassin. This event served as a catalyst for the opening of a Western-style national hospital.

Finally, in April 1885, King Gojong and the Joseon government established Jejung Hospital ("House of Universal Helpfulness") under the Board for General Control of Diplomatic and Commercial Matters (equivalent of the present-day Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT)). They provided all of the land, buildings, facilities, administrative workers, and operating funds, and employed American physicians to examine and treat patients. Of course, the overall management and supervision of Jejung Hospital were the responsibility of government officials. For this reason, missionaries at the time likewise alluded to Jejung Hospital in diverse reports as a "government hospital.” Ultimately, Jejung Hospital became the first Western-style national hospital to be established and operated by the Joseon government in Korea.

King Gojong and the Joseon government gave two special missions to Jejung Hospital, which was the national hospital. The first consisted of teaching Western medicine to intelligent young men so that they would become competent medical specialists. The second consisted of treating impoverished patients free of charge. Already at the time of Jejung Hospital, the advancement of medicine and public medical service were established as the social responsibility of the national hospital. Even after the establishment of the Empire of Korea in 1897, the Korean government continued to maintain the basic goals of the nation's public health and medical service policy as the advancement of medicine and the provision of public medical service. In 1899, it founded Gyeongseong Medical School (forerunner of the present-day SNU College of Medicine), a public institution, to foster physicians, and opened Gwangje Hospital ("House of Extended Helpfulness") as the new national hospital, devoting its energy to the examination and treatment of vulnerable patients and the spread of inoculation.

In 1907, the Empire of Korea established Daehan Hospital by combining Gyeongseong Medical School, and its affiliated hospital, Gwangje Hospital, with the Korean Red Cross Hospital that belonged to the royal household. As a comprehensive medical institution providing education, research, examination, and treatment, Daehan Hospital also served as a public medical institution. Beyond this, it even had the authority to govern the country's medical service and public health projects. With the annexation of the Empire of Korea by Japan in 1910, the project to modernize medicine in Korea was temporarily frustrated. Nevertheless, the experience of modernizing medicine that continued from Jejung Hospital to Daehan Hospital had a considerable effect on the history of medical service in Korea.