Medical Association Emergency Committee Urges University Presidents to Suspend Freshman Admissions Next Year

"Medical Education Field to Suffer Side Effects for Over the Next 10 Years"

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) Emergency Response Committee has urged university presidents nationwide who operate medical schools to halt the recruitment of new students for next year.

Hyungwook Park, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the Korean Medical Association. Photo by Taewon Choi

In a briefing released on the 12th, the KMA Emergency Response Committee stated, "Through President Yoon Seok-yeol's martial law manipulation, the entire nation has come to realize that the increase of 2,000 medical school students was also carried out arbitrarily and coercively," adding, "The martial law command's proclamation declared that residents would be 'punished,' and President Yoon treated residents as tools rather than as citizens."

The committee continued, "Recently, medical students nationwide have resolved that they will not be able to return to school in March next year, and the residency application rate for the first half of next year is only 8.7%," emphasizing, "If the manipulation of education and healthcare is postponed, the situation will become increasingly severe over time."

They also warned that if the recruitment of new medical students continues next year, the field of medical education will suffer adverse effects for more than the next ten years. The committee urged, "Since the Ministry of Education has no will to resolve this issue, university presidents must step forward to stop the government's manipulation of education," and requested, "Please suspend the recruitment of new students for the 2025 academic year."

Previously, medical students and medical faculty organizations also issued statements urging the presidents of each school affiliated with medical schools and medical graduate schools to halt the recruitment process for new medical students for the 2025 academic year. The Korean Association of Medical Colleges and Medical Graduate Schools Students Association earnestly requested on the 9th, "To prevent the collapse of medical education, we sincerely ask to suspend the recruitment of new students for the 2025 academic year based on the last conviction and conscience as educational institutions." The National Medical College Faculty Emergency Response Committee also demanded, "The announcement of early admission results and regular application submissions must be stopped, and urgent discussions on substantial quota reductions should be held."

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