"Even if One Resident, Medical Student, or Professor Gets Hurt, Total Strike Will Begin"
"Medical School Quotas Should Be Reduced Instead, and Essential Medical Package Should Be Abandoned"
The newly elected president of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) announced a tough struggle, setting the president's apology and the dismissal of the Minister and Vice Minister of Health and Welfare as preconditions for dialogue.
Im Hyun-taek, the newly appointed president of the Korean Medical Association, is holding up his certificate of election after winning the final vote on the afternoon of the 26th at the Korean Medical Association in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
According to the KMA on the 26th, Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Society of Pediatrics, was elected as the 42nd president. Lim Hyun-taek secured 21,646 votes (65.43%) out of a total of 30,384 valid votes in the runoff against candidate Joo Su-ho, confirming his election. Candidate Joo Su-ho received 11,438 votes (34.57%). His term will begin on May 1 and last for three years.
Lim announced a hardline stance immediately after his election. In a Q&A session with reporters following the vote count, he stated, "We will start a general strike the moment even one resident, medical student, or professor preparing to leave the hospital is harmed due to license suspension or civil/criminal lawsuits."
He maintained the position that the medical school quota should rather be reduced and the essential medical package should be scrapped. Regarding the possibility of negotiations with the government, he said, "If necessary, we will create a channel for dialogue with the government, including sufficient representatives of residents and medical school professors."
However, as conditions for dialogue, he stated, "The dismissal of Minister Cho Kyu-hong and Vice Minister Park Min-soo, the cancellation of the nomination of former Senior Secretary for Social Affairs Ahn Sang-hoon who was involved in increasing medical school quotas, and an apology from the president are basic requirements," adding, "Postponement of license suspension is not even at the level of a negotiation card."
Lim is a hardliner who has strongly criticized the government with harsh expressions during the medical policy conflict. On the 20th, when the government announced the medical school quotas by university, he issued a statement saying, "Doctors will fight to the end to protect essential medical care from the fascist Yoon Suk-yeol government." On the 1st of last month, he was taken into police custody for refusing to leave after a scuffle with presidential security officers at a medical reform public discussion event hosted by President Yoon Suk-yeol at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital.
Lim previously highlighted Vice Minister Park Min-soo's verbal slip as a controversy known as 'Uisae.' Minister Cho and Vice Minister Park were reported to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of official duties.
On the 1st of last month, he was also sent to the prosecution for refusing to comply with a request from presidential security officers to move his seat at the public discussion hosted by the president at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital in Seongnam.
In 2016, he was prosecuted for receiving about 160 million won into his personal account after posting a sponsorship message on an online community exclusively for pediatricians. The court suspended a 2 million won fine sentence.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
