OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to elicit preferences for drug listing decision criteria in South Korea using the discrete choice experiment (DCE) method. METHODS: A DCE survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of respondents who were educated in the principle concepts of pharmacoeconomics and are decision makers or stakeholders within that field. To develop choice designs, we first decided on the attributes and levels through literature review and discussion with experts who are involved in the decision making process. Then orthogonal and balanced designs were determined using a computer algorithm. A total of 15 choice sets were produced from the aforementioned process. With the addition of 2 test questions, subjects were shown a total of 17 sets of drugs with different levels of ICER, uncertainty, budget impact, and severity of disease. We used the conditional logit model to assess the effects of each attribute. RESULTS: Parameter estimates from the model indicate that all attributes influenced respondent's choice significantly and each parameter has an expected sign. The Lower the ICER, the higher the probability of choosing that alternative. Respondents also preferred low levels of uncertainty and a smaller impact on health service budget, and were likely to choose drugs for serious diseases rather than mild or moderate ones. We also found that those in our sample were willing to accept high ICER to get medication for severe diseases. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the cost-effectiveness, budget impact and severity of disease are the main reimbursement decision criteria in South Korea, and that DCE can be a useful tool in analyzing the decision making process where a variety of factors are considered and prioritized.