Seoul: Thousands of medical students who have been boycotting classes in protest of the government's medical school admissions plan will be allowed to return to the classroom in the fall semester, the education ministry announced on Friday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the boycott began more than a year ago in response to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's plan to significantly increase medical school admissions. Approximately 8,000 students had been held back a year after refusing to attend classes in the spring semester. Earlier in the day, a group of presidents from 40 universities with medical schools delivered a decision to accept the students' return in the fall semester to the government. The education ministry expressed its respect for their decision, effectively accepting the move.
Due to the structure of many medical school courses, which are organized on a yearly basis, students who walked out in the spring semester were unable to return midyear and had to wait until the next academic year, starting in March. The group of university chiefs stated they would collaborate with the government to organize medical school curricula on a semester basis.
The university presidents also requested the government conduct additional national medical license exams to accommodate students graduating in August of the next few years, rather than in February, due to the standoff. Currently, final-year students graduating in August 2026 are ineligible to take the exam this year, as only graduates or those within six months of graduation can sit for the tests starting in September.
The ministry acknowledged the group's stance, emphasizing the independence and accountability of each university's academics, and pledged to actively pursue necessary administrative and financial support. While the move aims to normalize medical school operations, critics argue it constitutes excessive preferential treatment for students who walked out.
Earlier this month, the Korean Medical Student Association announced that students would return to school following the government's reversal of its initial admissions plan. The standoff had begun early last year when thousands of trainee doctors and medical students protested the government's decision to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 for the current year.
The government has since backed down, restoring the 2026 admissions quota to its original level of about 3,000. On Friday, a consultative body comprising representatives of trainee doctors and government officials was launched to discuss conditions for the doctors' return to work. The Korea Intern Resident Association, representing junior doctors, has called for a consultative body led by front-line medical experts to reconsider the former administration's essential medical policy package and to improve the working environment for trainee doctors, as well as to explore measures to reduce doctors' legal burdens related to medical accidents, facilitating their return to hospitals.