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Medical students are refusing to return. A firm response is necessary.

Published: 31 Mar. 2025, 00:00

Doctors walk across the Seoul National University College of Medicine campus in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 27.[NEWS1]

Medical students who took a leave of absence last year in protest of the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions are now returning to class en masse ahead of a looming deadline. At major institutions, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University, nearly all medical students have reportedly submitted applications to resume their studies. Similar moves are expected at other medical schools by Monday's deadline. It is a welcome development.

This shift comes despite the Korean Medical Student Association (KMSA), which represents students from 40 medical schools and graduate medical programs, maintaining its stance that students should continue their protest through a leave of absence. However, individual schools moved to hold votes and ultimately decided to return. In effect, their unified front has collapsed. The Education Ministry and universities, while postponing the planned increase in admissions for next year, held firm in warning that students who failed to return would be penalized per school regulations. That principle-based approach seems to have paid off.

Yet the embers of protest still smolder. Some students, though they have reenrolled, are now vowing to boycott classes — a tactic dubbed “resistance after return.” This, too, is unjustifiable. What is the purpose of refusing to attend class? Students who do not fulfill academic requirements after returning will inevitably face delays in graduation or even expulsion. Such collective action appears rooted in a belief that they will eventually be granted leniency. This misconception must be corrected. The government and universities must continue to enforce rules without exception. Should students persist in boycotting lectures, they must face appropriate disciplinary measures, including delays or expulsion, in accordance with academic policies.

Medical students are not the only members of the university community. If school regulations are applied selectively for their benefit, it raises serious questions of fairness for students in other departments. Are medical students entitled to special privileges? They are, first and foremost, students — subject to the same academic rules as everyone else. Their refusal to attend class is unlikely to garner public sympathy and will only deepen mistrust in the medical community at large. The KMSA, too, must stop deferring to the opinions of resident doctors or senior physicians and instead act in the best interest of the students it represents. After all, those preparing to enter medical school and those who have already earned their licenses as resident doctors are in fundamentally different positions.

Park Dan, head of Korean Intern Resident Association, center, shakes his hand with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik at the National Assembly in western Seoul on March 10. [NEWS1]

Physicians’ organizations must also reconsider their hard-line stance. Park Dan, the interim leader of the Korean Intern Resident Association and vice president of the Korean Medical Association, wrote on social media on March 28: “What do you expect to accomplish without being willing to sacrifice an arm? Isn’t what the government really wants total submission? In the end, there are only two choices — death or surrender.” But why should medical students bear the brunt of this conflict? Senior physicians are using students as a shield. And framing the situation as a binary choice is a false dilemma.

Medical students should focus on their training, and the Korean Medical Association should engage constructively with the government to find solutions. The government, in turn, must ensure that academic routines return to normal as students come back and initiate sincere dialogue with the medical community.

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.