Ruling party chief faces leadership test as he wrestles with medical standoff

President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party, ahead of his departure for the Czech Republic from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap

The leadership of Han Dong-hoon, chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), is being tested as he tries to resolve a standoff between the government and doctors.

Han has been making all-out efforts to launch a four-way consultative body, comprising major political parties, the government and doctors’ groups, to find a breakthrough in the conflict over the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s medical reform plan introduced in late February. The plan, which seeks to increase medical school quotas, has led to strikes by trainee doctors, causing substantial disruptions in essential services at major hospitals such as emergency care.

Doctors have been insisting that they will not join the consultative body unless the government withdraws its plan to increase the medical school admissions quota for the 2025 academic year. The government, however, argues it cannot retract its plan for next year because universities have already begun accepting admissions for medical schools. Instead, it said it is open to discussion regarding the size of the quota for 2026, but only if doctors can provide a reasonable basis for the number they come up with.

At Thursday's meeting, Han once again urged doctors to engage in talks to resolve the prolonged medical crisis and find common ground on the necessity of the medical reform.

“Without the four-way consultative body, it’s difficult to find a starting point to address the medical crisis. Distrust of the government remains, but medical professionals that I’ve met over the Chuseok holiday agreed that the medical crisis must be resolved quickly for the sake of public health. We will wait for the doctors to join the framework,” Han said during a Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly.

How Han navigates the medical crisis could be pivotal not just for the president but also for the PPP. According to a Gallup Korea survey released last Friday, the approval rating for PPP has dropped to 28 percent, the lowest since Yoon took office in May 2022.

Next week, Han and other PPP leaders will have a dinner meeting with Yoon to further discuss the medical reform issues. The meeting, set for Tuesday, had originally been planned for Aug. 30 but was postponed by the presidential office after Han proposed deferring the medical school quota hike for 2026 to help break the impasse between the government and groups representing doctors.

“The meeting will be an opportunity for the presidential office and the ruling party’s leadership to get together, gauge public sentiment during Chuseok holiday and discuss the Yoon administration’s reform efforts, including the medical reform, and other livelihood issues,” presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon said in a release.