By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A North Korean female medical doctor has obtained a South Korean medical license.
Lee Kyung-mi, who worked as a surgeon in the North, passed the National Medical License Examination and may practice in the South.
``Although the South and North have different medical systems, it seems that doctors in the two countries share high pride,'' Lee was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. ``As it has been hard to pass the exam, I'll do my best to become a medical specialist in the South.''
Now, she will undergo an internship and become a resident as her South Korean counterparts have to.
She is the second North Korean doctor to have passed the exam. A male North Korean doctor passed the medical exam but died while working as an intern.
There are also some defectors who became doctors after graduating from medical schools in the South, but Lee is the first and only female North Korean doctor to obtain a medical license in the South.
Graduating from Pyongyang Medical University, the 41-year-old worked as a surgeon in North Korea and abroad, conducting over 500 operations.
But the veteran surgeon said the preparation for the exam was harder than she thought due to different medical terms and systems between the two countries.
``I found it really hard as most medical terms here are in English. In the North, all medical terms are localized and translated into Korean,'' Lee said.
She also found it difficult to study hospital management and deal with legal problems, which local medical students also find tricky.
She lives with her husband and daughter.