Medical Association Leadership's First Police Appearance... Multiple Summons Expected

Press and Public Relations Chairman Joo Suho to Appear on the 6th

Police summons and investigations have begun in earnest for former and current officials of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) who were accused of leading collective actions opposing the increase in medical school quotas. After Joo Su-ho, the KMA Emergency Response Committee's Public Relations Chair, appeared on the 6th, a series of summonses are expected to continue through next week.

On the 6th, when the police began the first summons investigation into the suspicions of collective resignation conspiracy among current and former executives of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), Joo Su-ho, the KMA Emergency Response Committee's Public Relations Officer, appeared at the Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Mapo-gu, Seoul, and expressed his position. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

At around 9:46 a.m. that day, Joo appeared at the Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Mapo-gu, Seoul, stating, "I am here on charges of instigating resident doctors who gave up becoming specialists to collectively resign, thereby obstructing the work of university hospitals," adding, "There is nothing to fear, hide, or conceal."

Joo said, "I believe the doctors' resistance is a fight against fake news and false provocations," and added, "I hope the government will relent so that doctors can come to the dialogue table without undermining the meaning of their voluntary resignation."

Regarding the charge of instigating collective action, he refuted, "I never instigated, so the charge of instigation does not hold," and said, "I am worried that seniors might have mistakenly interfered with juniors (resident doctors), but the claims of aiding and instigating are completely different from the truth."

This summons follows the Ministry of Health and Welfare's complaint on the 27th of last month, accusing five former and current KMA executives of violating the Medical Service Act and criminal law offenses such as obstruction of business, instigation, and aiding, leading to the National Police Agency's investigation. Joo was the first to respond to the investigation.

Following Joo Su-ho, other executives who have been requested to appear are expected to be summoned sequentially. Former KMA President Roh Hwan-gyu, who had been abroad, returned on the 4th and was placed under a travel ban; he is scheduled to appear before the police on the 9th. Kim Taek-woo, KMA Emergency Response Committee Chair, and Park Myung-ha, Chair of the Committee for Organizational Strengthening, are scheduled for summons on the morning of the 12th. Im Hyun-taek, President of the Korean Pediatric Society, is currently coordinating his schedule with the police.

As the government's deadline for resident doctors' return (February 29) has passed, the police are accelerating investigations targeting the KMA leadership. Earlier, the Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency executed search warrants on these five individuals on the 1st, just one day after the return deadline, increasing pressure. On the 5th, the Committee for the Protection of the Common People also filed an additional complaint accusing KMA executives of instructing evidence destruction.

With the police initiating compulsory investigations into the KMA leadership, attention is focused on whether the scope of investigations will expand to include general resident doctors who disobeyed orders to return to work. Since the Ministry of Health and Welfare is considering police complaints against resident doctors who led the collective action, in addition to administrative sanctions such as license suspension, further investigations are expected to be inevitable. Woo Jong-su, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, recently stated at a press briefing, "If complaints are filed against individual resident doctors, we will investigate them as quickly as possible and according to principles."

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