Resident Representative: "Government Plan is Clumsy... Does Korea Have the Will to Solve It?"

"Enforcing 2025 Admissions May Make Suspension of Medical School Recruitment in 2026 Inevitable"

Park Dan, the emergency committee chair of the Korean Intern Resident Association (Daejeonhyeop), stated on the 30th, "If the president insists on pushing forward with the 2025 entrance exam, the suspension of medical school admissions in 2026 will be inevitable."

Park Dan, Emergency Response Committee Chair of the Korean Intern Resident Association. [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, Chair Park posted on his personal SNS (social networking service), "As expected, the government's plan is so clumsy. It was 5 years, and now it's 5.5 years? To provide proper education, it is right to suspend admissions starting from the 2025 entrance exam," he said.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education announced that since medical students' leaves of absence can be autonomously approved by universities, the number of first-year medical students next year is expected to reach up to 7,500. Therefore, universities will be allowed to autonomously design medical education programs lasting 5 to 6 years. However, the Ministry of Education still maintains that readjusting the medical school quota for next year is impossible.

Chair Park also criticized Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party, asking, "Does he have the will to resolve this?"

He added, "I am curious about Leader Han's thoughts, who blindly calls only for a ruling-opposition parliamentary consultative body," and said, "If discussions are to be held in the consultative body, the party leadership would have already taken a stance on normalizing medical education and suspending admissions in 2025."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "Whether before the general election or now, if they only timidly suggest having talks without any real intention, I don't see how they differ from President Yoon Seok-yeol, who wastes time and awaits a catastrophe," and asked, "How long will they hesitate? Do they have the will to resolve this? Or is it actually a case of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside?"