"In the Doctor Community, Mocking Posts About the Disaster Were Unbearable to Watch"

Mother mocks son preparing for medical licensing exam after losing mother
Seems to consider exam preparation as 'non-participation in leave'

Numerous posts mocking the bereaved families of the Muan Jeju Air passenger plane disaster have been posted on an anonymous community exclusively for doctors and medical students, sparking public outrage.

On the 30th of last month, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is offering flowers at the joint memorial altar set up to mourn the victims of the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster near Muan Sports Park, close to Muan International Airport in Jeonnam.

On the 1st, a post titled "Horrifying posts in the doctors' community about the Jeju Airport disaster" was uploaded on an online community. The author wrote, along with a photo presumed to be a screenshot from the community "MediStaff," which only doctors can join, "I decided to expose this internally because I simply could not bear to watch." He appealed, "It is horrifying that such people are practicing medicine as doctors," and "Please help spread this widely so the culprit can be caught."

According to the photo posted by the author, an interview article with a man in his 20s who lost his mother in the Jeju Air disaster was posted on MediStaff that morning. The article contained a heartbreaking story about the bereaved child who lost his mother in the Muan Jeju Air passenger plane disaster, taking his mother’s earnest wish for him to become a doctor as her last words, and preparing for the national medical licensing exam in a tent at the accident site. His mother had regularly encouraged her son, who was preparing for the medical exam, and reportedly sent supportive messages until the day before the disaster.

However, instead of mourning the deceased and comforting the bereaved family, doctors and medical students who saw the article flooded the post with mocking comments about the son. It is presumed that preparing for the national exam itself became "evidence" that he did not participate in the leave of absence protest, as most medical students had left their schools in opposition to the increase in medical school admissions. Many doctors and medical students left sarcastic comments such as "As expected, the tangerine is admirable" and "If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to focus on studying." Particularly shocking were comments insulting the deceased, such as "Giving birth to a tangerine is already a sin" and "The child is the sinner, but the parents are punished." "Tangerine" is a derogatory term used to belittle medical students who did not take a leave of absence and residents who did not resign.

In response, netizens expressed strong reactions such as "Those people are doctors?" "Doctors again? I’m not even surprised anymore," "How can they be like that? They have given up being human," "This is horrifying. Investigate immediately and revoke their medical licenses," "Now they are mocking even death because they didn’t participate in the leave," "They will definitely be punished," and "I pray their identities will be exposed."

Meanwhile, the accident occurred at 9:03 a.m. on the 29th of last month when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, departing from Bangkok, Thailand, and heading to Muan International Airport, attempted a belly landing due to a landing gear malfunction and collided with a concrete mound at the end of the runway. According to fire authorities, 179 of the 181 passengers on board died, and only 2 crew members were rescued, making it a major disaster. This accident remains the deadliest aviation accident in South Korea.