The medical crisis in South Korea remains unresolved despite significant concessions from the government, including 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 public universities—Gangwon, Kyungpook, Kyungsang, Chungnam, Chungbuk, and Jeju—to reduce medical school enrollment by up to 50% for the upcoming academic year. This proposal is seen as an effort by the universities to address the long-standing medical crisis, which has now extended to the education sector. Additionally, medical colleges will also cut their enrollment by a similar percentage.
The South Korean government stated that accepting the proposal aims to protect the rights of medical students and address the current medical gridlock. Accordingly, all 32 medical colleges and universities nationwide, which initially allocated 2,000 new medical student places, will cut their quotas in half, down to 1,000. Further cuts may occur if private medical universities and colleges also participate in the proposal.
This is considered a major concession by the South Korean government after a long and persistent struggle, but for the doctors, this "olive branch" is still not enough. They insist they will not return to work unless the government completely abandons the plan to increase the quota for medical students and agrees to sit down for negotiations from scratch.
Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party, also argued that this is only a temporary measure and will not solve the root of the problem.
MINH CHAU
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