Purpose: The role of graduate medical education (GME) has become more important at the flood of knowledge and technical development. The korean board system in general surgery has a short history and has been developed mostly by the executive authorities rather than by autonomous civil organizations which is the case in america and europe. The aim and curriculum of our residency education is not yet well established, so that there requires the need to evaluate and analyze the training system of other well-established countries. Methods: The structures of residency education and their characteristics in U.S.A., England and Germany were reviewed from the literatures and internet sites in terms of aims and objects of learning during the training period. The korean system was compared to these characteristics. Results: Comparing the residency training programmes of U.S.A., Germany and England to our system there found some characteristic points as following that would be recommendable to be adopted for the renewal of our training programme. 1) Autonomous civil organizations endeavor for the regulations of educational goal, requirements and their accreditation. 2) The understanding of basic sciences that provide the fundamental principles of surgery was emphasized during the education. 3) Modern surgical techniques as a part of minimal invasive surgery can be easily acquired during the training course. 4) Participation in emergency medicine and intensive medicine was almost mandatory. 5) Interdisciplinary training and effective rotation schedule were highly recommended. All these characteristics could be actively integrated into our education, if we elaborate more well-established educational goal and curriculum for the residentship.