Pepsinogen, Helicobacter pylori antibody and M2-PK are blood tests aimed at the stomach and bowel, and their real job is triage: deciding who needs an endoscopy, not replacing one. Korea uses them at scale because it screens for gastric cancer at scale.
Serum pepsinogen, H. pylori antibody, and M2-PK for the bowel.
KMI Global's Standard, ≈₩500,000, which offers pepsinogen as one of three choices in its first option group.
KMI Global's Signature, ≈₩1,000,000, as the alternative to a colonoscopy in its second option group.
Hanaro's Silver program, men's price, ≈₩1,100,000.
One week is the earliest an imaging slot can be held, and there is no referral step before it.
English report in your hands in about a week. You also get a consultation on preliminary findings on the day of the screening, before you leave.
Programme contents and prices from each partner centre's own foreigner-facing published list, read 2026-08-05: KMI Global, Hanaro Medical Foundation's English site and MediOne's English site. Standalone per-test prices are MediOne's 비급여 (non-covered) posting, the itemised list 의료법 제45조 requires a clinic to publish, read the same day. Scheduling and report turnaround are Meridiko's own operating figures, confirmed 2026-08-06, not a centre's published ones (https://global.kmi.or.kr/examination/foreigner_examination; https://en-mobile.hanaromf.com/program/prog01/prog01_01.jsp; https://en.medionemedicalcenter.com/m1; https://medionemedicalcenter.com/115), measured 2026-08-05.
Pepsinogen levels indicate atrophic gastritis, the mucosal change that precedes most gastric cancer, which makes it a risk-stratification test. H. pylori antibody shows infection or past infection, the single largest modifiable gastric-cancer risk factor. M2-PK is a stool-free bowel marker used to flag who should be scoped.
None of them finds a cancer. Pepsinogen can be normal in the presence of one, and choosing M2-PK instead of a colonoscopy trades a look inside the bowel for a blood draw. If your risk is real, take the scope.
Suits: Anyone with a family history of gastric cancer, anyone with long-standing indigestion, and anyone who cannot or will not have an endoscopy on this trip and wants the next best triage.
Should not have it: Anyone using them to avoid an endoscopy they actually need. Korea's gastric-cancer screening programme rests on endoscopy, and these tests exist to route people toward it rather than around it.
A gastroscopy looks at the stomach lining directly and can biopsy what it sees. These blood tests estimate the odds that looking would be worthwhile. Where a program offers you the choice, as KMI Global's option groups do, the scope is the stronger test.
Not itemised on the three tiers this site prices. Pepsinogen is one of the three first-group options in every KMI Global program, M2-PK is the colonoscopy alternative from Signature upward, and H. pylori antibody is included from Hanaro's Silver. Where a program presents a choice, the endoscopy is the one to take unless there is a reason not to.
