Vice Minister Park Min-soo said, "Participating in school classes and continuing academics is the duty of medical students," and added, "I hope they actively exercise their right to study, reflecting on their initial desire to become doctors who treat sick patients."
On the morning of the 6th, Vice Minister Park noted at a meeting of the Central Disaster Management Headquarters for collective action by doctors, "If there are any acts that hinder classes, such as not registering for courses or taking leave, we will respond strictly according to the law and principles."
As conflicts between the medical community and the government have continued for over a year, the new medical students admitted this year, class of 2025, are also unable to participate properly in classes. The government maintains that since the new students entered knowing about the increase in medical school admissions, it will not tolerate class refusals based on that increase. However, due to the characteristics of medical schools that emphasize collective action, most new students are not attending classes as they follow the directions of senior medical students to refuse to attend.
The government argues that the new medical students this year have no grounds to refuse classes since they entered knowing about the increase. Kim Hong-soon, an Education Ministry official in charge of medical education, said at a briefing on the 5th, "This year, we will not allow any blanket approval for collective leave and will closely monitor whether universities handle the status of students on leave according to their regulations."
Vice Minister Park proposed discussing alternatives with the medical community, which demands a complete retraction of the healthcare reform.
Vice Minister Park stated, "Completing healthcare reform cannot rely solely on the government's efforts, and I repeatedly ask physician organizations that are not participating in the healthcare reform committee to engage in discussions on healthcare reform as partners and to express their opinions boldly."
He added, "It is not reasonable to demand an unconditional retraction and halt without participating in discussions or presenting specific details, and I hope concrete and effective alternatives that are critically needed in the field be presented as healthcare professionals."
He promised the prompt operation of legislation allowing the participation of the medical community in the decision-making process for medical school quotas. Vice Minister Park said, "The government will prepare to form the committee as soon as the bill passes the National Assembly to support the prompt operation of the forecasting committee."