Former Minister Cho Kuk's Daughter Fails National Medical Center Internship Selection

Exterior view of the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] It has been confirmed that Cho Min, the daughter of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, was not accepted as an intern at the National Medical Center.

The National Medical Center, a medical institution under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, announced the list of successful interns for 2021 on its website on the 29th. Among the total of nine successful candidates, there was no one with the surname Cho. A total of 16 people applied for this internship, and it is known that 15 of them attended the interview. The successful candidates are scheduled to start working from March.

An intern refers to a medical resident who, after obtaining a medical license, undergoes training at a hospital to become a specialist. Without a dedicated specialty, they train for one year and then receive additional training as residents who choose their specialty. The selection criteria for interns at the National Medical Center this time were presented as follows: medical licensing exam scores (65%), medical school academic records (20%), and interview scores (15%).

Earlier, when it became known that Cho Min had applied for the National Medical Center internship, a controversy over "special favors" arose. Jeong Ki-hyun, director of the National Medical Center, was suspected of being a "parachute appointment" as he was a founding member of the "Together Forum," a support group for Moon Jae-in during the 2017 presidential election. Additionally, it was revealed at the end of last year that the Ministry of Health and Welfare had increased the number of dermatology resident positions, a popular specialty at the National Medical Center, by one.

However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has strongly denied these allegations. They stated that the increase in dermatology resident positions occurred before Cho Min even passed the medical licensing exam, and that the increase was only a temporary one-year expansion. Even if Cho Min had been accepted as an intern, since she would apply for a specialty after one year, these matters are separate issues.

Former Minister Cho also refuted the claims through a Facebook post, stating, "My daughter has never applied for or hoped to enter 'dermatology.'"

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