South Korea will permit organ donation following not only brain death, but also death from cardiac arrest following the withdrawal of life support.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the details of the impending change on Thursday in its first comprehensive four-year plan for the donation and transplantation of organs covering the years 2026 to 2030.

Through a revision to current legislation, the government plans to allow donation after circulatory death(DCD), or death due to the irreversible loss of circulation and breathing, including by patients who choose to end life support.

Currently, South Korea restricts organ donation to brain-dead individuals who have previously given consent.

Through the revision, the government aims to increase the organ donor registration rate to six percent, from last year’s three-point-six percent, by 2030, as well as increase the rate of brain-dead organ donors per million people to 11 from seven-point-eight.

It also hopes to increase tissue donors per million people from two-point-eight to three-point-eight over the same period.

According to the ministry, the number of brain-dead organ donors decreased from 478 in 2020 to 397 last year, while the number of people waiting for organ transplants increased from 43-thousand-182 to more than 54-thousand-700.

The ministry noted that DCD has become common in so-called transplant advanced countries and stressed that organ donation is not carried out until circulatory death is officially confirmed.

The new plan also includes other measures to increase awareness of the process and necessity of organ donation, including increased education and compensation for donors.