"Korean Doctors Worry About Salary Cuts"...Foreign Media Also Focus on Controversy Over Medical School Quota Expansion

"Concerns Over Decline in Service Quality"

Major foreign media outlets also paid attention to the escalating conflict between medical residents and the government, as residents submitted mass resignations in protest against the government's push to expand medical school quotas.

AFP reported on the 19th (local time), stating, "South Korea is one of the advanced countries with a relatively low number of doctors per capita," and explained, "The government is partially pushing to increase the number of doctors to cope with the rapidly aging society."

Regarding the reasons why doctors oppose the expansion of medical school quotas, it analyzed, "Doctors argue that this plan will harm the quality of service supply," and "there are also concerns that doctors fear their salaries and social status will decline."

Bloomberg cited Seoul National University's website and reported that 26% of the regular admission successful candidates for the Department of Computer Science at Seoul National University this year did not register, but none of the successful candidates for Seoul National University College of Medicine failed to register.

Bloomberg reported, "Due to the government's plan to significantly increase medical school quotas, more top-tier students are enrolling in exam preparation courses to become doctors rather than pursuing a definite career path as semiconductor engineers," and "Among medical school applicants, many reject admission to top engineering schools that guarantee employment at companies like Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix, attracted by the higher job stability and salary of doctors."

Additionally, Bloomberg conveyed student public opinion through the perspective of a representative of a university entrance exam academy. It explained that students naturally prefer medical schools when considering their post-graduation lives, and the government's semiconductor industry promotion policy does not influence such public opinion.

Bloomberg pointed out that the medical school quota has remained almost unchanged for 20 years and that the number of doctors per capita in South Korea is lower than that of other OECD member countries. Bloomberg noted that as of 2021, the average annual total income of practicing doctors in South Korea is 6.8 times that of general workers, the highest among OECD countries, and that there is no retirement age.