[The Editors' Verdict] Lee Nak-yon's Mysterious First Defeat

The government, the Democratic Party of Korea, and the Korean Medical Association agreed on a policy agreement to halt the medical strike on the 4th. The core of the agreement is to reconsider public healthcare policies such as expanding medical school quotas and establishing a public medical school from scratch, and to form a 'medical-government consultative body' after the COVID-19 pandemic to discuss these issues anew. Lee Nak-yeon, the leader of the Democratic Party, also attended the signing ceremony that day. With this, the medical strike was temporarily concluded after 15 days. The Democratic Party is emphasizing that it ended further chaos amid the COVID-19 crisis and achieved a dramatic settlement, highlighting this as the first achievement since Lee’s inauguration. Lee, who effectively led the agreement with the Korean Medical Association, also pledged to faithfully implement the agreement.

However, is this really an 'achievement' as the Democratic Party and Lee Nak-yeon claim? If we turn back the clock just a little, the answer quickly becomes clear. As of late August, the government and the Democratic Party’s will was firm. The government repeatedly emphasized 'law and principle' and stressed a resolute response. The Democratic Party criticized that leaving the medical field during an emergency, holding the public hostage, was no different from exploiting a national disaster to protect their own interests. Even President Moon Jae-in declared 'strong measures,' saying that soldiers on leave would return and take up arms in a wartime situation.

However, the stance of the government and the Democratic Party changed within just a few days. They disregarded law and principle themselves and abandoned the strong response policy. Not to be outdone, the government also announced it would withdraw the charges against six resident doctors who were prosecuted for not complying with the work commencement order. At this point, the government and the Democratic Party effectively surrendered to the doctors’ collective action. Nowhere in the five clauses of the agreement is there any reflection of the government and Democratic Party’s will for public healthcare. Most of the provisions reflect the doctors’ demands, such as starting from scratch, re-discussion, budget, improvement of working conditions, and protection of medical personnel. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party is putting forth a sophistry that they did not surrender to the doctors but rather surrendered to the public and patients.

The initial expansion of the number of doctors and the establishment of a public medical school announced by the government were for the benefit of the public and patients. Through the COVID-19 crisis, the public has come to realize how urgent the expansion of public healthcare is, and how important it is to expand public healthcare infrastructure and increase the number of doctors. However, even in this grave situation, it was the doctors who abandoned the public and patients and acted for their own interests. The Democratic Party ultimately sided with those doctors. Yet, the Democratic Party’s claim that this was for the public and patients is nothing but arrogance or shameless hypocrisy.

It is worrisome that the Democratic Party regards this behavior as Lee’s first achievement. It is not about criticizing the surrender to the doctors’ collective action itself. The concern is that through this, the principles of public healthcare are trampled, and the government’s operation that grants impunity to doctors’ illegal actions will only invite greater disasters in the future. In fact, the proper 'path of public healthcare' has now missed the 'golden time.' Going forward, if doctors are not given even bigger stakes, even negotiations will be difficult. If at that time, massive public funds are mobilized again, this doctors’ collective action will ultimately be considered a 'complete victory.' In such a situation, can the Democratic Party and Lee still speak of the public, patients, rule of law, and justice?

We have witnessed doctors’ collective action that abandons even patients for immediate interests, as if in wartime. We have also witnessed the Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Party surrendering to it. Therefore, it is not difficult to predict how conflicts of interest in various sectors of our society will explode ahead of the next presidential election. Will the Democratic Party then still talk about law, principle, and strong measures? In this regard, Lee’s agreement this time is not an achievement but a failure. If you still do not understand why it is a failure, you may leave it as a 'mysterious first defeat.' The time to understand that mystery is not far away.

Park Sang-byeong / Political Commentator

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