Resident Doctors Who Enlisted Amid Legislative Conflict Can Return to Original Training Hospitals After Discharge

Residency Environment Evaluation Committee reviews recruitment plan for first half of 2028 for resigned residents
Hiring decisions left to discretion of training hospitals...Excess over quota will still be recognized

Resident doctors who resigned and joined the military amid legislative conflicts last year will be able to return, after being discharged in 2028, to the same hospitals where they worked before resigning.

Yonhap News Agency

The Residency Environment Evaluation Committee announced that on the 24th it held the 2nd meeting of the Residency Environment Evaluation Committee and reviewed recruitment plans for the first half of 2028 for resident doctors who resigned and enlisted in 2025.

At the meeting, it was decided that if a resident doctor who enlisted in March 2025 while in a resigned status and is currently serving in the military returns after discharge in 2028 to the same hospital, department, and training year as before resignation, each training hospital will autonomously decide on the hiring of such resigned residents, and if this results in exceeding the quota, the excess positions will be recognized afterward in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

This measure will apply to the recruitment of residents for the first half of 2028. However, for resigned residents who are unavoidably discharged early before 2028 due to illnesses or family circumstances recognized under military service-related laws, the same measure will exceptionally apply throughout the entire recruitment process from the first half of 2026 to the first half of 2028.

Previously, in August last year, the government had already opened a pathway for resigned residents who had not yet enlisted to return to training through the recruitment process for the second half of 2025. The committee explained, "This measure is meaningful in that it secures continuity of training by applying to resigned residents who enlisted in March 2025 the same measure that supported resigned residents in returning to training through the recruitment process for the second half of 2025."

The additional recruitment for the first half of 2026 targeting resigned residents who have been discharged early is scheduled to take place from the 25th to the 27th.