Med school deans urge students to return in letter
In a written letter to the students, 40 universities with teaching hospitals assured that the quota would be fixed at 3,058 for next year, down from 5,058 for the 2025 academic year, and that schools would be prepared to deliver quality education.
The letter is apparently aimed at mitigating students' criticism in response to the 40 universities' joint announcement Wednesday that they would reject medical students' leave of absence requests and possibly expel them, should they refuse to return.
The Korea Association of Medical Colleges' student association claimed Thursday that the legally submitted leaves of absence for their voluntary break requests remain valid, adding that it will take all possible legal action if any unfair treatment occurs.
Yonsei University College of Medicine's Emergency Committee -- consisting of Yonsei University medical professors -- backed the students, insisting that students' rights to take leaves of absence be guaranteed.
The Emergency Committee said it would protect Yonsei medical students from any unfair disadvantages.
On Thursday, the Korean Medical Association also criticized the universities based on the view that the announcement threatening to expel the students can be considered a form of coercion.
The doctor's association indicated that if student expulsion becomes a reality, it will take all possible measures to fight back, including protests, rallies, strikes or slowdowns.
On March 7, the South Korean government announced a conditional reversal from suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's push to increase the annual medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 to 5,058 students starting in 2025, on the premise that protesting students on leaves of absence return to school.
Yoon's quota hike plan, announced in February 2024, has been met with fierce resistance from the medical community, with medical students taking leaves and junior doctors at teaching hospitals walking off the job in opposition to the plan for over a year now.
Amid repeated failed attempts by the government, the students have not returned to the classroom.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Administrative Court on Friday dismissed the Medical Professors Association of Korea's complaint filed against the health minister's announcement to increase the 2025 medical school enrollment quota.
Thirty-three councils of the Medical Professors Association of Korea had filed a complaint against Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong in March 2024, arguing that the minister does not have the authority to decide the number of medical school students according to the Higher Education Act.
A dismissal means that the complaint or its claims did not meet the requirements to open a trial.
The Medical Professors Association also filed for a separate suspension of the government's increase in the annual medical student quota. But the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling, dismissing the association's appeal in June 2024.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
N. Korea bristles at S. Korea-U.S.-Japan air drills
North Korea on Sunday blasted recent combined air drills conducted by South Korea, the United States and Japan, saying such joint military actions are "the main danger factors heightening the level of the military tension" on the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding region. "We express serious concern over their hostile acts of persistently conducting provocative and threatening military actions while deliberately ignoring the security concern of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and strongly warn of the grave consequences to be entailed by them on the regional situation," the head of the North Korean defense ministry's policy office said in a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The statement referred to North Korea by its official name. On Friday, Seoul's defense ministry said the three nations had held the air drills over international waters off the southern South Korean island of Jeju and involved at least one U.S. B-52H bomber -- the strategic bomber's first deployment near the Korean Peninsula this year. The North Korean official also charged that the tripartite military alliance has "completely changed into a nuclear-based triangular military alliance." "Irresponsible acts of the US, Japan and the ROK (South Korea) steadily heightening the level of tension and danger on the Korean peninsula should be closely watched and deterred," the North's statement added. "It is our just sovereign right to take countermeasures against provocative military actions such as the moves to strengthen the multilateral military alliance threatening the security of the region and the joint military drills with clear aggressive character." (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
7 hours ago
- Korea Herald
5-year blueprint for Lee administration in final stage: presidential committee
The two-month State Affairs Planning Committee, tasked with developing a blueprint for how the Lee Jae Myung administration will run the country for the next five years, gave a halfway review on Sunday. Committee head Lee Han-joo said at a press conference that the blueprint was in the final stages of being completed. Lee is also director of the Democratic Party of Korea's think tank, the Institute for Democracy, and a longtime policy mentor to the president. The committee has so far listed around 120 policy goals across ministries that center around fostering economic growth and achieving greater equality in society, said Lee. He added that the committee has picked 16 out of the 120 policy goals that rank higher in priority to be executed as soon as the respective ministries give the green light. "We will begin delivering for the South Korean people as soon as we sort out the policy priorities," the director said. Policies anticipated to be among the top priorities include overhauling the criminal justice system to abolish the public prosecution service and establishing new bodies for investigation and indictment. Critics of this contested plan say this will inhibit a timely administration of justice by complicating procedures. Under the plan outlined by the Democratic Party, prosecutors will lose the power to investigate crimes or oversee preliminary investigations by the police. The role of prosecutors in the criminal justice system will be reduced to determining whether to indict those accused of committing a crime. President Lee had also said in his first press conference on July 3 that he expects a preliminary framework for prosecution service reform to be completed before October. Aside from the restructuring of the criminal justice system, the State Affairs Planning Committee has subcommittees dedicated to delivering on the president's priority issues, such as artificial intelligence development, universal basic income and tax reforms. The State Affairs Planning Committee launched on June 16 and runs for 60 days until Aug. 14, when the final blueprint is set to be released, with a possible extension of 20 days.
Korea Herald
8 hours ago
- Korea Herald
'Say no to anti-Chinese sentiments': groups protests in Seoul
Civic groups hold counter-rallies against anti-Chinese protests by some sympathizers of Yoon Suk Yeol Human rights activists and civic groups for Chinese immigrants held protests Friday evening, against the anti-Chinese sentiments that have been spreading in Korea particularly among the far-right groups. The joint rally consisting of unconfirmed number of protestors were held from around 7:30 p.m. in Daerim-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu. It was hosted by a group calling itself "People of Western Seoul Opposing the Far-right," reportedly consisting of some 70 organizations including groups for immigrant rights and human rights, along with the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party. It was in response to a rally held by supporters of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, which was also held in the streets of Daerim-dong in southern Seoul. The rallies were led by YouTubers who have been calling for Yoon's reinstatement after he was impeached for his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 and several illegal orders related to it. Why China? Why Daerim? Daerim-dong is a district in Seoul with a substantial Chinese population. It was among the reasons why it became a ground zero for those calling for Chinese rights here, and those decrying the country based on conspiracy theories about election rigging. The claim that the past major elections in Korea were rigged was one of the bases for Yoon's martial law imposition in December. Despite Yoon's repeated insistence of supposed "evidence of election rigging," the investigative bodies, the National Election Commission, and the court all concluded such claims to be false. Investigators conducted 181 raids on the NEC since January of 2020, with more than 90 percent conducted during the Yoon administration. In January of this year, a false story by an online media claimed that 99 Chinese spies were captured by the South Korea and US military, after which they confessed to election rigging. It was immediately denied by the authorities in both countries, and a criminal investigation is being conducted into the issue. Although no evidence of election rigging exists, some of Yoon's supporters continue to make such claims, with the misbelief seemingly fueling their discontent toward Chinese people. In Friday's anti-China protest, the Yoon supporters held up signs disparaging to Chinese residents, accusing them of being "loyal to Chinese communist party."
