SEOUL (ANN/KOREA HERALD) – President Yoon Suk Yeol adamantly refused to acknowledge the ongoing walkout of approximately 9,000 trainee doctors on Wednesday, characterising their collective action as “illegal” and insisting it be met with stern actions guided by law and principle.
Yoon dismissed accusations that the government’s measures against defiant doctors, including the suspension of medical licenses for some 7,000 trainees, were intended to suppress doctors’ freedom and rights. Instead, he asserted that these actions were “to meet the nation’s obligations under the Constitution and to keep citizens’ right to life unperturbed,” as stated during a Cabinet meeting at the Government Complex Sejong, the de facto administrative capital.
These remarks coincide with the trainee doctors’ extensive walkout, now in its third week, protesting the government’s medical school enrollment quota.
Yoon revealed that the government has approved a plan to allocate KRW128.5 billion (USD96.29 million) to address the growing distress in the medical infrastructure, plagued by staffing shortages, utilising state budget reserves. This spending aims to alleviate the shortage caused by the departure of trainee doctors and acknowledge the dedication of medical staff in challenging work environments.
Remaining steadfast in his administration’s pursuit, Yoon presided over the Pan-governmental Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, emphasising the need to increase the medical school enrollment quota by at least 2,000. This marked the 10th government emergency meeting addressing fallout from the collective actions of medical staff.
Yoon criticised the current situation as “bizarre,” noting the excessive reliance on the sacrifices of young trainee doctors by large hospitals. Despite legislation capping the workweek at 80 hours as of 2022, over half of trainee doctors in Korea reportedly work more than 80 hours a week.
Trainee doctors constitute nearly 40 per cent of the medical staff in five of the largest teaching hospitals in South Korea, including Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul Asan Medical Center, and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital.
Yoon highlighted the irony that the chaos in the medical field is proof of a shortage of doctors. He expressed concern about citizens’ fear and anxiety, declaring a nationwide medical emergency.
To address the situation, Yoon suggested increasing state reimbursement for large hospitals redirecting patients with mild symptoms to smaller hospitals, enabling larger hospitals to focus on severe cases.
Supporting his enrollment quota hike proposal, Yoon cited estimates that a South Korean teaching hospital admits an average of 77 students, roughly half of the United States and a third compared to Germany and the United Kingdom.
Yoon dismissed concerns about a faculty shortage, stating that faculty members at teaching hospitals handle an average of 1.6 students, well below the maximum legal threshold of 8.
“Over the past three decades, efforts to improve the quality of medical service have been overlooked,” Yoon emphasized.
On Tuesday, 40 medical schools across the country requested an enrollment quota increase of 3,401 beginning in 2025, surpassing the government’s initial guideline of 2,000 that sparked the protest.
Meanwhile, doctors are facing legal consequences. On Wednesday, Joo Soo-ho, head of the Korean Medical Association’s emergency committee public relations council, was interrogated by the police in Seoul. Joo denied being the mastermind behind the mass resignation of trainee doctors, describing them as “the new generation who do not follow what their predecessors tell them to do.”
