Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Education, and Korean Medical Association Hold First Tripartite Meeting to Discuss Resolution of Medical-Political Conflicts

Discussion on Next Year's Medical School Admissions and Residents' Return
First Meeting Since Last Year's Medical-Government Conflict... Suggestion to "Meet Again"

As the conflict between the medical community and the government triggered by the expansion of medical school quotas has continued for over a year, the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education have engaged in a three-party dialogue for the first time.

Kim Taek-woo, President of the Korean Medical Association.

According to the KMA on the 11th, Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, and Kim Taek-woo, President of the KMA, met yesterday afternoon at a location in Seoul to discuss ways to resolve the medical-government conflict. They are reported to have discussed issues related to the 2026 academic year medical school admission quotas and the return of residents.

Since the medical-government conflict began in February last year, this is the first time the heads of the medical organizations and government ministries have sat down together at the dialogue table.

A government official stated, "On this day, the two ministers and the KMA president met without any other attendees, and they will not separately announce the details of the discussion."

Earlier, on the 8th, the KMA requested the government and the National Assembly through a briefing, saying, "This is a task that the current government must resolve before the next administration takes office," and asked to create a forum for discussions to normalize healthcare. They also presented demands including an apology for the administrative orders imposed on medical students and residents, suspension of the activities of the Presidential Commission on Medical Reform, a re-discussion of medical reform tasks from scratch, and confirmation of the medical school quota at 3,058 for the 2026 academic year.

The medical-government dialogue is expected to continue in the future. KMA spokesperson Kim Seong-geun said, "(During yesterday’s discussion) there was a verbal mention of meeting again later," he conveyed.

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