Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Backlash grows over preferential treatment for returning medical trainees
A medical worker walks through a major hospital in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
Nearly 17 months after a mass exodus of medical students and residents — set off by the government’s plan to add 2,000 medical school slots — a cautious return is underway. Yet tensions over their reinstatement are mounting, placing a growing strain on hospitals and medical schools alike.
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration moved to raise medical school admission quotas, citing an urgent shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas and critical specialties, as Korea braces for a rapidly aging population. But the plan sparked a fierce backlash, prompting mass walkouts by thousands of medical students and trainee doctors who argued that the problem lay not in numbers, but in poor working conditions, low pay in essential fields and uneven distribution of physicians. The standoff left the nation’s health care system under intense strain.
Trainee doctors are tentatively ending their long boycott, returning to hospitals and classrooms. Many faced academic and career repercussions, while medical associations urged a return to normalize education. President Lee Jae Myung, elected in June, has offered concessions and pledged long-term reforms, signaling a readiness to engage.
While some civic and patient advocacy groups have sharply criticized government efforts to facilitate the return of striking medical trainees, accusing officials of granting preferential treatment, tensions are also rising among the doctors. Divides are growing between those who have already resumed their duties and those still preparing to do so.
The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) recently held an emergency meeting and finalized three key demands for returning to work. These include establishing a consultative body of field experts to review the former administration’s medical policy, improving residency training conditions and creating a task force to address the legal burden of medical malpractice suits.
The association’s latest proposal marks a notable softening from its seven-point demands last February, which called for a full repeal of the government’s medical reform plan. Amid signs of thawing relations with the newly inaugurated administration, this narrower set of demands signals increasing momentum for negotiations between residents, the government and hospitals.
KIRA interim Chairman Han Sung-jon said that the new demands would form the core of official discussions and represented the views of young doctors dedicated to rebuilding essential medical services.
One of the most difficult unresolved issues is how to ensure that residents subject to mandatory military service receive continuous training. Those who resigned last year were subject to immediate conscription. While some were permitted to defer enlistment during the first round of recruitment this year, around 2,000 residents are still on standby and could be drafted mid-training if they rejoin this fall.
The Military Manpower Administration is reportedly exploring ways to enable these residents to finish their training before enlisting. However, a large-scale return of residents could lead to staffing shortages in the military, further complicating an already delicate balance.
Meanwhile, some residents are demanding shorter training periods and more opportunities to take the board certification exam, raising concerns that such measures could compromise medical competence.
Han Sung-jon, left, interim chairman of the Korean Intern Resident Association, speaks with Kim Eun-sik, a representative of residents at Severance Hospital, ahead of an emergency general assembly at the Korean Medical Association headquarters in Yongsan District, Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap
Medical schools face fairness disputes as return plans unfold
Universities are also grappling with the return of students.
The Council of Presidents for the Advancement of Medical Colleges, which includes the presidents of 40 universities with medical schools, has proposed that around 8,000 students who were due to repeat the year be allowed to resume classes starting from the fall semester, with weekend and evening classes to make up for missed coursework.
To accommodate fourth-year students who failed to meet practical training requirements, the council is considering requesting an additional national medical licensing exam session next spring.
Although the council has emphasized that administrative penalties such as academic probation will still be enforced, the proposal has sparked backlash. Professors at Yonsei University’s College of Medicine have reportedly resigned from administrative positions in protest, citing concerns over equity between returning students and those who resumed their studies earlier. Other national universities are said to be experiencing similar tensions.
Disputes among doctors have become increasingly heated.
Online posts have derisively targeted students who returned early, dubbing them “gamgyul,” a Korean term for tangerines. The nickname emerged during the 2024 medical trainee strike to describe those who refused to join collective action. It draws on the metaphor of “peeling tangerines,” suggesting passivity — implying these individuals stayed on the sidelines while others took risks. Some posts have crossed into threats of violence and social ostracism. One message warned, “Just wait, we’ll show you what hell looks like.”
Police have launched investigations into the authors of these posts, but anxiety remains high among early returnees who feel vulnerable to harassment when classes resume.
Hospitals face a similar dilemma. Medical staff are concerned that reintegrating former residents could cause tension in departments where working relationships are already strained. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has said that it may consider support measures for early returnees, but has yet to announce any concrete proposals.
A residency program director noted that hospitals are closely monitoring the situation, as many faculty members and nurses are still disillusioned by the behavior of the doctors who walked out. “It’s unclear how well they’ll adjust once they return,” the official said.
A patient walks through a major hospital in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
Public discontent grows
Public opinion remains largely unsympathetic.
A national petition opposing preferential treatment for returning students and residents gathered over 20,000 signatures in just a few days. The petitioner warned that allowing those who walked out to return without facing any consequences would set a dangerous precedent and undermine public trust in the medical profession.
Some students and residents who previously returned have expressed frustration, claiming that they were pressured to rejoin on the understanding that no further opportunities would be offered. They now feel betrayed as new accommodations are being considered.
While acknowledging the fairness concerns, the council for university presidents argued that further delaying the return of students could result in three graduating cohorts — 2024, 2025 and 2026 — being concentrated in a single year, causing an unmanageable bottleneck in the education system.
“This would lead to the collapse of medical education itself,” said one council official. Nevertheless, critics point out that just three months ago, the council said that “there would be no way to reverse a failed academic year.”
While the Ministry of Education has not yet released a final plan, it has stated that decisions will be made in coordination with each university’s academic leadership. Ministry spokesperson Gu Yeon-hee told reporters that “no official decision has been made at this stage,” but emphasized that the ministry intends to uphold academic standards as much as possible.