Medical Association President: "Government is Ruining Doctors...All Arrested Residents Are Victims"

Medical Association President: "Both Detained Residents and Listed Doctors Are Victims Created by the Government"

On the 20th, the Korea Medical Association building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The Korea Medical Association announced that instead of launching the "Pan-Medical Community Countermeasures Committee (Pan Committee)" as previously planned, it will launch the "Special Committee for Proper Medical Care (Special Committee)." Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Regarding the arrest of Jeong Mo, a resigning resident who created and posted a list of doctors not participating in the medical community's collective action, Im Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), criticized the government, saying, "I cannot contain my despair and sorrow."

Jeong was arrested on charges of creating a list titled "Grateful Doctors," containing personal information of doctors who did not participate in the residents' collective action opposing the government's medical school expansion policy in July, and posting it multiple times on Telegram and the doctor and medical student community Medistaff.

After meeting Jeong on the 21st, President Im told reporters, "Both the arrested resident and those harmed by being on the list are all victims created by the government."

Im also questioned, "Should those who ought to be in detention today be the residents who were at the scenes where patients were dying without even time to care for themselves, or the sycophants who whispered into the president's ear that 'demonizing doctors and expanding medical school quotas will win elections and become a symbol of reform remembered in history,' and the officials who, following those orders, moved soullessly and systematically, causing citizens to die on the streets?"

He added, "The government is destroying the unity among doctors," and said, "I only hope this situation ends as soon as possible so that both doctors and citizens can live without worry, and a world comes quickly where doctors can focus solely on saving the lives of the people."