Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 2. As the "wave of resignations" of South Korean interns and residents in February this year due to their opposition to the medical school enrollment expansion plan has not yet subsided, the new president of the Korean Medical Association, Lim Hyu

Three-year term. He is considered a "hardliner" and demands that President Yoon Seok-yue apologize and replace the Minister of Health and Welfare as a prerequisite for dialogue.

On March 11, 2020, in Seoul, South Korea, medical staff transferred a patient to the hospital. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lee Sang-ho)

The trigger for this wave of doctors’ “resignations” is the medical university enrollment expansion plan released by the South Korean government in early February, which includes increasing the enrollment scale of medical schools from the current 3,058 to 5,058 people, and there will be 10,000 new doctors by 2035. The medical community strongly opposed this plan. About 10,000 intern and resident doctors submitted their resignations and went on strike to leave their posts, causing chaos in diagnosis and treatment.

Lin Xianze posted on social media on May 1 that in order to stop doctors, patients and the public from worrying, he will try his best to solve this problem.

The outside world generally believes that Lim Hyun-taek is a "hardliner" in the medical field. He will "fight to the end" with the Korean government over the medical school enrollment expansion plan. According to him, given that South Korea’s fertility rate continues to decline and its population decreases, medical schools should not expand enrollment but should reduce enrollment.

The South Korean government established a special committee on medical reform in April and hopes to dialogue with the medical community under this multilateral consultation mechanism. The medical community strongly opposed this and demanded "one-on-one" direct dialogue with the government. Lim Hyun-taek asked Yoon Seok-yue to apologize, replace the Minister of Health and Welfare, and withdraw the enrollment expansion plan, and then discuss other matters.

Before taking office, Lin Xianze said at a meeting that he would be "as resolute and tough as a soldier fighting on the front line" to prevent the government from introducing wrong policies. Korean media reported that he is scheduled to convene the first standing committee meeting of the Korean Medical Association on May 2 and plans to establish a consultation mechanism involving medical school professors, intern residents and medical students. (Zhang Jing)