South Korean PM welcomes protesting medical students' return to school as 'big step forward'

Seoul, July 13 (IANS) South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok on Sunday welcomed medical students' decision to return to school after a 17-month boycott of classes in protest of the previous government's medical reform plan as a "big step forward."

An association of medical students announced Saturday they will return to school after boycotting classes since February last year in protest of the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration's plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 starting this year.

"(Their decision) marks a big step forward and it is a relief," Kim wrote on his Facebook page, adding he will make efforts to find a solution to the issue.

"President (Lee Jae Myung) also has contemplated a solution and instructed me and the government to find ways to address it. What the people wants will matter," he said.

The Korean Medical Student Association made the announcement during a press conference with the National Assembly's education and welfare committees, and the Korean Medical Association on Saturday.

"We will return to school, placing our trust in the National Assembly and the government, and commit ourselves toward normalizing medical education and the health care system," the group said in a joint statement, without specifying the exact date of the return.

The education ministry earlier announced that 8,305 students in 40 medical schools nationwide will be subject to grade retention, requiring them to repeat the same academic year alongside younger students, Yonhap news agency reported.

While the government later reversed course and decided to return the 2026 quota to the original level of approximately 3,000, many trainee doctors and medical students have not yet fully returned to hospitals and schools.

--IANS

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