Resident Strike Continuation Vote 'Rejected... "Marathon Meeting Underway"'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), which is on an indefinite strike opposing major medical policies such as the expansion of medical school quotas and the establishment of public medical schools, failed to secure a majority in a vote on whether to continue the strike, resulting in the motion being rejected. KIRA plans to hold additional meetings and reach a conclusion on whether to continue the strike soon.

According to the medical community on the 30th, KIRA held an emergency committee meeting where a vote was conducted on whether to continue the residents' strike. The motion was rejected as it failed to secure a majority. The emergency committee has been holding an overnight meeting from 10 p.m. the previous day until the morning of the 30th but has yet to reach a conclusion on whether to continue the strike.

In the vote on continuing the residents' strike, out of 193 members who exercised voting rights, 96 voted to continue the strike, 49 voted to stop the strike, and 48 abstained. Although support for continuing the strike was predominant, it did not reach the majority quorum of 97 votes. Subsequently, it was decided to delegate the decision on whether to proceed with or halt collective actions such as the strike to Emergency Committee Chair Park Ji-hyun. It is reported that additional meetings are currently underway to discuss whether to continue the strike.

The day before, a consultative body composed of directors of national and private university hospitals and medical schools nationwide proposed to KIRA to temporarily suspend the strike and renegotiate policies with the government from scratch. The tentative agenda included forming a medical-government consultative body consisting of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) and other medical groups along with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to discuss policies such as the expansion of medical school quotas and the establishment of public medical schools from the beginning.

KIRA stated, "We are holding marathon meetings to decide whether to accept the proposal or continue the strike, but no conclusion has been reached yet."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.