"Suspension of 'List of Grateful Doctors' Update... Impact of Resident Arrest Who Created Blacklist?"

"Purpose of List Creation Achieved" Reason Revealed

As a resident who had been creating and posting lists of residents and medical students who did not participate in collective actions was arrested, the medical community's 'blacklist' site has stopped updating.

A resident who posted the names of doctors and medical students who did not participate in collective action in the medical community on social media is coming out of the Seoul Central District Court on the 20th after a warrant hearing.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st, Yonhap News reported that a notice was posted the day before on an archive (information repository) site that had been publicly revealing the real names of doctors on duty under the title "List of Appreciated Doctors," stating, "No further updates will be made, and the list will now be fixed." The site still disclosed the names of doctors currently working and medical students remaining at schools. This archive remains partially modified as of that day.

The operator explained the reason for stopping updates, saying, "I think the purpose of the archive has been achieved to some extent," and "I judged that continued media exposure could negatively affect President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval ratings." It is analyzed that there was concern over the growing support for the government, which is pushing to increase the number of doctors, as malicious real-name disclosures were reported through the media.

He also mentioned the stress caused by mistakenly posting and then deleting the list of family medicine doctors at Seoul National University Hospital, saying, "I experienced burnout (a state of extreme physical and mental exhaustion) due to the family medicine incident."

Although the operator only explained the reason for stopping updates to this extent, there is an interpretation that this decision is not unrelated to the arrest of the resident who created the medical community blacklist the day before. Jeong Mo, a resident who resigned and is accused of violating the Stalking Punishment Act, was arrested the previous day on the grounds of concerns over evidence destruction. This is the first time the creator and poster of a blacklist has been arrested. Perhaps because of this, the operator of the "Appreciated Doctors" archive also provided users with a "security guideline." He instructed, "Do not post the (archive) link on domestic sites such as KakaoTalk or Naver comments," and "You must use a proper virtual private network (VPN) together with the anonymous network Tor," emphasizing, "Violating this is equivalent to saying 'Please arrest me.'"

Meanwhile, the Seoul Medical Association issued a statement calling the arrest of the blacklist creator a "showcase" and expressed "deep regret." Im Hyun-taek, president of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), who visited the arrested resident, also pointed out, "Both the arrested resident and those harmed by being on the list are all victims created by the government," and criticized, "The government is destroying the unity among doctors."