Jeonnam Province expressed deep regret and concern on the 29th regarding the announcement of the public opinion survey results on the establishment of a national medical school in Jeollanam-do, jointly conducted by Suncheon City and Suncheon National University.
They stated that public opinion surveys targeting specific regions only further fuel conflicts between the eastern and western areas and have no practical benefit.
According to the province on the 29th, Suncheon City and Suncheon National University conducted a telephone interview survey from the 24th to the 26th, targeting 2,500 residents of the eastern region of Jeonnam.
The survey results showed that more than 7 out of 10 people do not trust Jeonnam Province’s single medical school application method, and 97.5% support the establishment of a medical school at Suncheon National University.
A Jeonnam Province official stated, “It is very regrettable that a biased public opinion survey attempt is causing regional conflicts at a crucial time when all residents should unite to establish the medical school,” adding, “Some answers to certain questions are contradictory or obviously leading to expected responses, significantly undermining the credibility of the survey.”
In particular, the official emphasized, “Among the 2,500 respondents, more than half (53.7%) answered that they did not know about the ‘awareness of Jeonnam Province’s single medical school selection application,’ yet 73.8% of the same respondents answered that they distrust the ‘reliability of Jeonnam Province’s application method.’ This inconsistency is interpreted as the result of distorted questions.”
They continued, “Questions such as ‘Where should the Jeonnam medical school be established?’ and ‘The necessity of establishing a medical school in the eastern region of Jeonnam centered on Suncheon National University’ were only asked to residents of the eastern region, so the results are predictable.”
Furthermore, they added, “The question about whether ‘the concentration of major institutions and medical facilities in the western region of Jeonnam is fair’ seems to lead respondents to the impression that there are many medical facilities in the western region, indicating a problem with the question itself.”
The Jeonnam Province official said, “In March, the President and the Prime Minister requested that ‘sufficient opinions within the region be collected,’ and the target of this request was Jeonnam Province, not Suncheon City,” and added, “We will complete the establishment of the Jeonnam national medical school in the most fair manner by sufficiently gathering opinions from not only the eastern region but all residents during the government-recommended university selection application process.”
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