More than 590 resident doctors who left their hospitals in protest of the government’s medical school quota expansion have returned, the Health Ministry said Friday, without providing the names of the hospitals, citing the possibility of future disadvantages from the medical circle. Currently, a little more than 590 out of 9,900 resident doctors, or six percent of the total, have returned to their training hospitals as of Thursday, the ministry explained. Second Vice Health Minister Park M

Some medical professors at the country’s three major hospitals, Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital and Korea University Hospital, suspended surgeries and outpatient clinics on Tuesday for one day, as previously announced, to protest the government’s plan to expand the number of new medical students by 2,000 a year. The main hall at SNUH’s Cancer Hospital was without medical staff Tuesday, while a number of patients wandered around the ward, having just learn

The Korean government said Monday it would deploy additional medical personnel to maintain health care services as medical professors are due to resign or take weekly breaks starting this week. During Monday’s government response meeting, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said the government would mobilize “all possible measures” to support the emergency medical system by dispatching more health care staff, such as public health doctors or military medical doctors, so that patients

Medical schools that have been allocated additional seats anticipate opening a minimum of 1,500 new slots for the upcoming year, as they are set to make final decisions on their admissions availability following the government’s decision to grant flexibility in the quota allocation. The government earlier said it would allow medical schools to freely adjust new seats within a 50 to 100 percent range of the enrollment quota given to them for the 2025 academic year. It announced in February

A pan-national consultative group was launched Thursday to open a dialogue for South Korea’s medical reform but without doctors attending as they protest the government’s plan to expand the medical student quota by 2,000. The chair of the special presidential committee Noh Yun-hong who heads the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, said the newly launched group will focus on long-term tasks such as improving working conditions for junior doctors and physicia

Amid an intensifying standoff between doctors and the government, professors at Seoul National University Hospital, said Wednesday they would suspend treatments for one day on April 30, with some in leadership roles saying they would resign on May 1. Stressing that the decision was made as a last resort, the professors said they also needed time off to recover from months of filling in for junior doctors who walked out to protest plans to expand medical schools. They said they would inform their

Patients in life and limb care are again left to deal with the fallout of the protracted medical standoff as resignations by medical professors due to take effect from Thursday. Concerns over the health care system are also growing as professors were considering reducing work hours and the number of surgeries in a show of protest. Medical professors at eight hospitals affiliated with the Catholic University of Korea’s medical school said Tuesday afternoon that they will submit their resig

South Korea entered another round of medical standoff as doctors refused to accept a government proposal to allow medical schools to reduce their enrollment quotas for next year, or join a presidential committee on medical reform. In response, the Health Ministry has stated that its stance remains unchanged regarding the scrapping of the plan to expand the annual medical student admissions quota by 2,000. The government made a bold step last week with a new proposal that gives temporary flexibil

Taking a step back from pushing its medical reform plan, the Korean government said on Friday that it would allow medical schools with additional spots to adjust the number of new medical students freely in an attempt to break the standoff with the medical circle. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during Friday’s press briefing that 32 colleges subject to the increase will be allowed to freely adjust the number of new medical students within a 50 to 100 percent range of the enrollment quota

The Korean government on Thursday broke its silence on its medical student quota expansion plan after over a week of maintaining a low profile following the ruling party's major election defeat, stoking hopes that it could possibly end the monthslong tug-of-war with the medical circle. The government announced plans to resume Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meetings involving officials from related ministries and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, as well as to brief repo

The Health Ministry on Wednesday started recruiting retired or soon-to-retire physicians to address rural healthcare deserts and essential medical fields as the junior doctors’ mass resignation entered its ninth week. The ministry on Tuesday afternoon opened a center for senior doctors at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, central Seoul, to entice senior doctors nearing retirement or inactive physicians with experience working in university hospitals to extend their years of service i

Despite soaring home prices and uncertainties in the real estate market driving Seoulites out of town, the number of South Koreans who moved to Seoul last year for education reached a record high, government data showed Monday. According to the latest Korean Statistical Information Service data on the number of people who moved to Seoul from other cities and provinces, more than 1.2 million people relocated to Seoul last year. Of the total, some 92,000 people said their main reason for relocatio

진행자: 박준희, Ali Abbot [Herald Review] ‘Parasyte: The Grey,’ run-of-the-mill monster horror series that lacks charm of original manga 기사 요약: 원작 만화의 매력을 담지 못한 호러물 [1] “Parasyte: The Grey,” the ambitiously re-imagined series by star director Yeon Sang-ho, is a run-of-the-mill monster horror show that fails to capture the charm and essence of the original manga. * Ambitiously: 야심차게 * Run-of-the-mill: 지극히 평범한; 보통의 * Capture: 사로잡다 * Manga: 만화 [2] The series is set in the un

An obstacle lies between the medical circle moving towards talks with the government with a unified proposal, after the head of the junior doctors’ group shed light on the hierarchical dynamics between medical professors and trainee doctors in hospitals. The disclosure shed light on the friction among doctors, the Korean Medical Association’s emergency committee and the KMA's newly-elected president, as they each hold different opinions on how to respond to the government’

From a naturalized South Korean doctor of US missionary descent to a four-time Olympic pistol shooting champion and the former chief executive officer of the country’s largest business conglomerate, several new faces are pursuing a second career in politics through the April 10 general election. New to the National Assembly is Kwak Sang-eon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who won an Assembly seat for Seoul’s Jongno constituency against the incumbent Rep. Choi Jae-hy

Voter turnout for this year’s parliamentary elections tentatively reached 67 percent, marking the highest turnout for general elections in 32 years, according to the election watchdog on Wednesday evening. Approximately 29.66 million out of 44.28 million eligible voters headed to 14,259 polling stations nationwide were open for 12 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to elect the new 300-member National Assembly, according to the National Election Commission in a statement released at 7:30 p.m. The

Wednesday’s general election was to pick the 300 members for the next four-year session of the National Assembly, but voters who spoke with The Korea Herald said their ballots extend beyond the next parliament, embodying their hopes and expectations for Korean politics as a whole, with President Yoon Suk Yeol included. Here are their voices. ‘It's all a mess’ says 87-year-old voter leaning on cane Cherry blossoms had burst into full bloom just outside a Hangangno-dong

The medical community appears to be facing a rift over coming up with a unified proposal for the expansion plan a day after the government requested it, as it seeks a breakthrough in the prolonged medical standoff through dialogue. Lim Hyun-taek, the newly appointed president of the Korean Medical Association -- the largest coalition of doctors’ groups here, with some 140,000 members -- demanded Kim Taek-woo, the chair of the KMA’s emergency response committee, step down Tuesday. Lim

The presidential office said Monday that it has no plan to defer the medical school admissions quota hike, fueling confusion both in the government and medical community, which briefly saw the possibility for dialogue over the matter. “The government has never reviewed postponing the plan for a year, nor will it do so in the future,” an official from the presidential office told reporters during a closed-door briefing, reiterating that the government remains unchanged on its medical

Hopes for a breakthrough in the protracted medical standoff are fading after the meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Park Dan, the head of the Korean Intern Resident Association, ended without agreement Thursday, with the two sides still far apart. Amid the impasse, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during Friday’s government response meeting that the government would continue to “communicate flexibility” with junior doctors but “based on principles.” “