Thousands of South Korean doctors held a mass rally on March 3 against government plans to increase medical school admissions. They defied official calls for trainee physicians who had also walked off the job in protest to return to work. Up to 40,000 doctors joined the rally, demanding the government scrap the plan, according to the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents private practitioners and had organised the protest.
The authorities argue that the number of medical students has not been raised for about three decades and that South Korea now has one of the most acute doctor shortages in the developed world amid a rapidly ageing population. The KMA led the rally with its leaders speaking on the podium and vowing to refuse talks until President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government backs down. The authorities have threatened to arrest and prosecute people who refuse to comply with a government order to return to work