Surgeons at Korea University Medical Center (KUMC) completed 3,000 robotic surgeries this month, the hospital said Tuesday.

KUMC opened the robotic surgery center in July 2007 and finished more than 2,000 operations by 2016, becoming a global leader in the field for having not just innovative equipment but also developing and applying the latest surgical methods.

“Medically advanced countries are amazed by KUMC’s systematic and specialized robotic surgery center’s surgical team,” said Kim Seon-hahn from the department of colorectal surgery. “The progress of the robotic surgery center is made through not just physician’s efforts but also the organic teamwork of the surgical team.”

Professor Kim was the first to develop the world’s first robotic surgical method for rectal cancer, which has now become a global standard, the hospital said.

Aside from Kim, several other professors from the department of urology, thyroid, plastic surgery, ear-nose-and-throat (ENT), obstetrics and gynecology, and pancreatic surgery have become renowned for their robotic surgery skills, the hospital said.

KUMC noted that it applied robotic surgeries to various departments and diseases even when the disease was moderate-to-severe. The hospital is working to foster specialized professionals through standardization and education of robot surgeries, it added.