South Korea: Unable to resolve medical deadlock

South Korea's medical crisis remains unresolved despite the government's significant concessions in allowing universities to reduce their medical enrollment quotas for the 2025 academic year.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced that the government will accept a proposal from the presidents of six national universities -- Gangwon, Kyungpook, Kyungsang, Chungnam, Chungbuk, and Jeju -- to reduce enrollment in medical programs by up to 50 percent for the next academic year. The proposal is seen as an effort by universities to address the prolonged medical stalemate that has now spread to the education sector. In addition, medical colleges will cut enrollment by a similar percentage.

The government said it accepted the proposal to protect the rights of medical students and resolve the current medical deadlock. Accordingly, all 32 medical colleges and universities nationwide, which are allotted 2,000 new medical student slots, will cut their initial quota by half to 1,000 slots. Further cuts may occur if private medical colleges and universities also join the proposal.

Congressman Ahn Cheol-soo. Photo: Yonhap

This is considered a major concession by the Korean government after a long period of persistent struggle, but for doctors, this “olive branch” is still not enough. They affirm that they will not return to work unless the government completely eliminates the plan to increase the quota of medical students and agrees to sit down and negotiate from the beginning.

Lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo of the ruling People's Power Party also said that this is only a temporary measure and will not be able to solve the problem at its root.

MINH CHAU

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