Police Accelerate Investigations: "Swift Action Upon Receipt of Complaint"

Summons of Joo Suho, Emergency Committee Public Relations Chair, on the 6th
Investigation Expected to Expand to General Residents

Despite the government's firm stance on strict measures against residents who have not returned after collective resignation, the majority still remain absent, and the police are accelerating investigations into the leadership of the Korean Medical Association.

On the 4th, Woo Jong-su, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, stated at a regular press briefing, "The policy to promptly initiate investigations if complaints are filed with objective evidence by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and related authorities remains unchanged."

On the 20th, residents from the Big 5 hospitals stopped working as of 6 a.m. Residents attending the "Korean Intern Resident Association 2024 Emergency Temporary General Assembly" held at the Korean Medical Association in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, are waiting for the meeting to begin. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Earlier, the police conducted searches and seizures targeting Kim Taek-woo, Chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the Korean Medical Association (Chairman of the Gangwon Medical Association), Joo Soo-ho, Media and Public Relations Chairman of the Emergency Response Committee, Park Myung-ha, Chairman of the Organization Strengthening Committee of the Emergency Response Committee (Chairman of the Seoul Medical Association), Lim Hyun-taek, Chairman of the Korean Pediatric Society, and Roh Hwan-gyu, former president of the Korean Medical Association, and have requested travel bans on them.

Summons for investigations of these individuals are also scheduled sequentially. Chairman Joo is expected to appear for questioning at 10 a.m. on the 6th, while the schedules for other executives are still being coordinated. Head Woo emphasized, "If they refuse to comply, procedures corresponding to such refusal will be taken."

Park Dan, Chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the Korean Intern Resident Association, has also been booked following complaints from civic groups. The police plan to decide on whether to conduct compulsory investigations based on additional complaints from related authorities and analysis of seized materials.

As the police begin full-scale investigations into the leadership of the Korean Medical Association, it is expected that the probe will gradually expand to include general residents violating orders to return to work. Head Woo explained, "Complaints from hospitals that have suffered specific damages or from supervisory authorities are somewhat necessary."

Additionally, the police are investigating a case where posts urging residents to delete hospital data before resignation were uploaded on the doctors and medical students' internet community 'MediStaff'.

During the process of analyzing materials secured through searches and seizures of the MediStaff office and servers, the police identified an email believed to have been used by the poster and are tracking the actual author’s information and basic personal details.

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