[Breaking] Seoul High Court: "Public Welfare More Important Than Medical Student's Loss"

In the appellate trial of the injunction application filed by medical school professors, residents, and medical students requesting the government to halt the enforcement of the decision to increase and allocate 2,000 medical school quotas, the court recognized the standing of current medical students as applicants and the urgent necessity to prevent harm. However, the application was dismissed on the grounds that the public welfare of medical reform through the increase in medical school quotas is more important.

On the 16th, the Administrative Division 7 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Gu Hoe-geun, Bae Sang-won, Choi Da-eun) dismissed the injunction application in the appellate trial filed by 18 individuals including examinees, medical students, residents, and medical school professors, who requested the government to halt the enforcement of the policy to increase and allocate 2,000 medical school quotas. The court ruled, as in the first trial, that medical school professors, residents, and prospective medical students are merely third parties and not direct counterparts to the disposition, and thus dismissed their applications.

On the other hand, the court recognized that current medical students have standing as applicants because they could suffer direct harm from the disposition.

The court stated, "Regarding the medical student applicants, according to relevant laws such as the Constitution, the Framework Act on Education, the Higher Education Act, the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act, and the regulations on university establishment and operation, the learning rights of medical students are guaranteed. There is a possibility to recognize 'special circumstances where the opportunity to participate in existing educational facilities is practically blocked, limiting equal access to educational facilities' due to this disposition," thereby acknowledging the applicants' standing.

Furthermore, the court noted, "There is a risk of harm occurring to the medical student applicants, which is of a nature difficult to recover from, and there is an urgent need to prevent this."

However, regarding the balancing of public interest, the court concluded, "Although the urgent necessity to prevent irreparable harm such as infringement of the learning rights of medical student applicants can be recognized, suspending the enforcement of this disposition could significantly affect the public welfare of medical reform through the increase in medical school quotas. It is necessary to uphold the latter even at the expense of the former. Therefore, this application does not meet the substantive requirements for an injunction."

This case was filed together with an administrative lawsuit by medical school professors, university hospital residents, and current medical students against the Ministers of Health and Welfare and Education, requesting the cancellation of the increase of 2,000 medical school quotas for the 2025 academic year. An injunction refers to a court decision to temporarily suspend the enforcement or continuation of administrative procedures when an administrative disposition cancellation lawsuit is filed.

Previously, the Seoul Administrative Court, which handled the first trial, dismissed the injunction application itself by questioning the plaintiffs' "standing." Dismissal means ending the trial without examining the merits when the lawsuit does not meet the requirements or the claim is not subject to judgment. For the same reason, seven out of eight injunction applications filed by the National Council of 33 Medical School Professors Associations (Jeonui Gyohyeop), medical school professors, residents, medical students, and examinees at the Seoul Administrative Court were consecutively dismissed.

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