"Increase Announcement Invalid"... 33 Medical School Faculty Associations Nationwide File Cancellation Lawsuit Against Ministry of Health and Welfare

Application for Suspension of Execution Injunction
"University Admission Quotas Under Ministry of Education... Ministry of Health and Welfare's Increase Announcement Invalid"

The Council of Professors from 33 medical schools nationwide has filed a lawsuit against the government to cancel the increase in medical school admissions.

Lee Byung-chul, a lawyer representing them (from the law firm Chanjong), announced on the 5th that representatives of the Council of Professors from 33 medical schools nationwide filed a cancellation lawsuit at the Seoul Administrative Court against the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education regarding the increase of 2,000 medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year.

On the 16th, when student representatives decided that medical students nationwide would submit leave of absence applications together on the 20th in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school quotas by 2,000, a red light was on at a traffic signal near a medical school in Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Additionally, they submitted a provisional injunction request to suspend the enforcement of the medical school admission increase.

Their argument is that the Minister of Health and Welfare does not have the authority to decide university admission quotas under the Higher Education Act. Therefore, the decision by the Minister of Health and Welfare to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 is invalid.

Lawyer Lee stated, "Under the Higher Education Act, increasing university admission quotas falls under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Education, but since the announcement of the increase was made by the Minister of Health and Welfare, it is invalid." Since the Minister of Health and Welfare's decision to increase admissions is invalid, any subsequent actions taken by the Minister of Education upon notification are also invalid.

Furthermore, they argued that the Minister of Health and Welfare's decision violated the constitutional principle of due process by failing to collect opinions from directly affected parties such as medical school professors, residents, and medical students.

A total of 33 out of 40 medical school professor councils nationwide participated in this administrative lawsuit.