An appellate court on Wednesday reversed a local court's approval of the Jeju provincial government's revocation of the business license of what would have been the nation's first for-profit hospital.

The Jeju branch of the Gwangju High Court ordered the Jeju government to cancel its decision in 2019 to nullify the business license of the Chinese-owned Greenland International Medical Center as South Korea's first for-profit hospital.

The appellate court ruling came after the Jeju District Court ruled in favor of the Jeju government over the invalidation of the hospital license in October last year.

The litigation began after the operator of the medical center, Greenland Jeju Healthcare Town Co., filed a lawsuit against the Jeju government's license revocation decision in May 2019.

The Greenland medical center owned by the Shanghai-based Greenland Group received approval from the Jeju government on Dec. 5, 2018, to run the hospital on the condition that it treats only foreign patients.

But the Chinese company strongly protested the ban on South Korean patients and failed to meet the deadline of March 4, 2019, for the launch of hospital operations, resulting in the license invalidation the following month.

Civic activists who have campaigned against the for-profit hospital expressed regrets over the appellate court ruling, while the Jeju government said it will disclose its stance later after looking into details of the verdict. (Yonhap)