Korea is the only developed country that saw an increase in the number of psychiatric beds with the longest average length of stay of psychiatric patients for the past decades. This phenomenon can be explained regarding the payment system, the law, and society. Korea is in a critical position concerning mental health policy. How it paves the way for reducing psychiatric admissions will provide a model for rearranging the interests of different social groups for the sake of a higher value, that of human rights.
Keywords: Korea; Length of stay; Psychiatric admission.