President Yoon Suk Yeol met with the head of a group representing trainee doctors Thursday and “listened attentively” to their position on the government’s push for medical reform, the presidential office said.

Yoon met with Park Dan, the head of an emergency committee at the Korea Intern Resident Association, from 2 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the presidential office, presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung said in a written briefing.

It was their first meeting since trainee doctors left their worksites on Feb. 20 to protest the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions.

“(Park) conveyed the trainee doctors’ opinion to the president,” Kim said. “He especially explained in detail about the poor treatment and working conditions of trainee doctors, and the president listened attentively.”

Park announced the meeting in an internal notice to the association earlier in the day, saying a meeting with the president is “worth trying as we can deliver the stance of the trainee doctors to Yoon” ahead of the
April 10 general elections.

“I believe the current situation might have been initiated by the president’s determination,” Park said.

Park said he would demand Yoon scrap the plan to hike the number of medical students.

About 12,000 junior doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations since Feb. 20 in protest of the plan for an addition of 2,000 medical school seats per year. Currently, the annual quota is 3,058.

Since earlier this week, Yoon’s office has said it is open to talks with junior doctors, but prospects for a breakthrough over the standoff remain uncertain as the government has shown little sign of reducing the size of the increased medical school admission quotas.

Adding to the complexity over the standoff, the government has already allocated the admission quotas to universities.

In a national address on Monday, Yoon called on doctors to come up with a “unified proposal” on the appropriate increase in medical school admissions, saying the government will be open to talks thoug
h it believes a hike of 2,000 is the minimum.

The reform plan has emerged as a hot-button issue for next week’s parliamentary elections, with the ruling People Power Party aiming to regain a majority in the National Assembly.

Source: Yonhap News Agency