The star of the deceased donation programme in Asia is currently South Korea.  This is a country that is famous for its living liver transplantation programme.  A WHO report in 2008 showed that, out of 96 countries, Korea was performing the highest number with 13.6 living liver transplants per million population. This was almost twice the number of Singapore’s at 7.33. Another reason why Korea has been known in the transplant circles is for starting the non-directed chain of living kidney donors and swap donations to overcome organ shortage in the 1990s.

Since the year 2003 Korea has been seriously revamping its deceased donation programme and has emerged within the last decade as the leader of this programme in the Asian continent. The law for Organ Transplantation came into effect in 2000 and the Korean Network for Organ Sharing (KONOS) was established. KONOS is the centralized authority for organ procurement as well as for approval of donors and recipients to ensure fair organ allocation. However, nothing much happened in the first two years and the donation rate actually dropped. In 2002, the Act was amended and the donor hospitals were allowed to keep one of the two donated kidneys from brain dead donors. This small incentive to the donor hospital helped in pushing the programme forward. They also addressed various issues and looked at the gaps that were not allowing more  deceased donations to happen in the hospitals. In 2003, the deceased organ donation rate was 1.7 per million population, but by 2008 it had climbed to 5.3. In 2012, the deceased organ donation rate increased to 8 per million population.  The success has been due to the following factors -

1. Creation of an Independent Organ Procurement Organization (OPO).
2. Required reporting system to OPO of brain deaths in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
3. A proactive brain death committee in hospitals.
4. A synergic effect between NGOs and government working together to spread the message of organ donation and distribution of donor cards.
5. Financial support from government for the programme.