South Korea: Medical students announce return to school after 17-month boycott

Seoul, July 13 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Medical students who boycotted classes in protest of the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions announced that they will return to school after nearly 17 months.

The Korean Medical Student Association made the announcement during a press conference with the National Assembly’s education and welfare committees, and the Korean Medical Association on Saturday.

“We will return to school, placing our trust in the National Assembly and the government, and commit ourselves toward normalizing medical education and the health care system,” the group said in a joint statement, without specifying the exact date of the return.

They also urged the government to take measures to restore academic schedules and to form a consultative body to improve the medical training environment in the long term, Yonhap news agency reported.

The announcement came nearly 17 months after thousands of trainee doctors walked off their jobs, and many medical students boycotted classes since February last year, in protest of the government’s decision to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 starting this year.

The education ministry earlier announced that 8,305 students in 40 medical schools nationwide will be subject to grade retention, requiring them to repeat the same academic year alongside younger students.

While the government later reversed course and decided to return the 2026 quota to the original level of approximately 3,000, many trainee doctors and medical students have not yet fully returned to hospitals and schools.

—