"Embarrassed to Be a Member"... Doctor-Turned-Government Official Refuses to Pay Medical Association Fees

Kang Young-seok, former Director of Welfare and Women’s Affairs of Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province and a physician by training, criticized the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which is strongly opposing the government’s plan to increase medical school quotas, saying, "I am ashamed to be a member." On the 18th, Kang stated on his social media service (SNS), "Doctors exist with a righteous sense of mission for the people."

On the afternoon of the 18th, a poster opposing the government's expansion of medical school quotas was posted at the Korean Medical Association building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

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Kang said, "Sometimes there may be dissatisfaction with the administration and policies. Therefore, various collective actions for improvement are possible," but he pointed out, "If the means and methods hurt or turn away from the hearts of our people, they can never be justified." He emphasized, "There must be a way to work together with the people, and I hope the trust of the people will not be lost."

He added, "If the current methods continue, I will be ashamed to be a member of the KMA and will refuse to pay membership fees any longer." Earlier, during the government’s push in 2022 to establish the Namwon National Public Health Medical Graduate School, when the KMA’s opposition and political interests blocked the process, he said, "I am ashamed to be a member who pays fees to the KMA." At that time, he argued for expanding public healthcare, saying, "More doctors are needed for the people, and fellow doctors are also needed for doctors who are exhausted by excessive workloads and losing trust."

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is delivering a public address on the necessity of increasing medical school quotas and the doctors' collective action at the Government Seoul Office Building on the afternoon of the 18th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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On the same day, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged residents doctors who have submitted or announced collective resignation letters through a national address to "stay by the medical field and patients." Han emphasized, "If this movement leads to actual action causing a medical vacuum, the damage will fall entirely on the people," adding, "This is an unacceptable act of holding the lives and health of the people hostage."

In response, the KMA Emergency Response Committee immediately countered, saying, "If the government tries to impose an unconstitutional frame and punish medical students and residents based on their free will, a medical disaster will ensue." The committee expressed strong regret, stating, "The Prime Minister’s national address is merely a pretext to suppress and punish doctors’ autonomous actions," and "The government’s behavior of turning Korean healthcare into a Cuban-style socialist medical system and demonizing doctors while conducting a witch hunt has not changed at all."

Earlier, the Korean Intern Resident Association announced that by the 19th, all residents at the so-called 'Big 5' hospitals (Samsung Seoul Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Asan Medical Center, Severance Hospital) would submit resignation letters and would stop working after 6 a.m. on the 20th. The KMA Emergency Committee also held a meeting on the 17th, deciding to determine the timing of collective action through a vote of all members and to hold a nationwide representatives emergency meeting on the 25th, thus launching a struggle. As the government and the medical community confront each other strongly, concerns over a 'medical crisis' are growing.

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