Head of trainee doctors' group says to meet Yoon on Thursday
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, April 4. Yonhap
The head of a group representing trainee doctors, who have left worksites in protest of the government's policy of medical reform, said Thursday that he was scheduled to meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol later in the day.
Park Dan, the head of an emergency committee at the Korea Intern Resident Association (KIRA), said in an internal notice that he would meet with Yoon on Thursday ahead of parliamentary elections next week.
Park did not specify where he would meet with Yoon but said a meeting with Yoon is "worth trying as we can deliver the stance of the trainee doctors to Yoon" ahead of the April 10 general elections.
"I believe the current situation might have been initiated by the president's determination," Park said.
Park Dan, third from left, the head of an emergency committee at the Korea Intern Resident Association, attends a meeting in Seoul, March 31. Yonhap
Park said he would demand Yoon scrap a plan to hike the number of medical students.
About 12,000 junior doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations since Feb. 20 in protest of the plan for a hike of 2,000 medical school admissions.
Since earlier this week, Yoon's office has said it is open to talks with junior doctors, but prospects for a breakthrough over the standoff remain uncertain as the government has shown little sign of reducing the size of the increased medical school admission quotas.
Adding to the complexity over the standoff, the government had already allocated the admission quotas to universities.
In a national address on Monday, Yoon called on doctors to come up with a "unified proposal" on the appropriate increase in medical school admissions, saying the government will be open to talks though it believes a hike of 2,000 is the minimum.
The reform plan has emerged as a hot-button issue for next week's parliamentary elections, with the ruling People Power Party aiming to regain a majority in the National Assembly. (Yonhap)