Government and medical community enter court battle over medical school recruitment issue = South Korea

The government and the medical community have entered a courtroom showdown as the controversy over increasing the number of medical school seats in South Korea continues to be clouded with uncertainty. The National Council of Medical University Professors
They are calling for an immediate suspension of the plan to increase personnel due to the flaws in the plan. However, the government argues that the lawsuit should be rejected, citing serious flaws in the litigation requirements.
The 11th Department of Administration of the Seoul Administrative Court announced that representatives of the 33 medical university professors' councils across the country have appealed to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Welfare and the Minister of Education to increase the number of medical students in 2025.
The hearing on the application for suspension of execution filed regarding "increase in personnel" began at 3:30 p.m. on the 14th. The council claims that the plan to increase the number of medical faculty members announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in February of this year violates the current Higher Education Act.
The lawsuit argues that the law should be invalidated because it is The Higher Education Act stipulates that the university entrance exam implementation plan be announced 1 year and 10 months before the year of admission, and the 2025 university entrance exam selection plan
was already announced in April last year. ``The university entrance exam basic plan and each university's implementation plan have already been made public, and changes cannot be made unless there are special exceptions,'' the council said.
"There is no gathering of opinions from students, specialized doctors (interns), and professors, and there are obvious procedural flaws." On the other hand, the South Korean government said that the increase in the number of medical students was a decision made by the Minister of Health and Welfare as part of the health and medical policy.
refutes that it does not violate the Higher Education Act. Additionally, the increase in the number of medical faculty members announced by the government cannot be considered an administrative penalty, and the council that filed the lawsuit is not a party to the lawsuit, so the lawsuit itself will not be successful.
claims. ``We merely announced the results of the deliberations at the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee and provided guidance on the application procedure, but the universities are the ones responsible for determining the number of medical school admissions for each university and changing the university entrance examination implementation plan,'' the government said.
``It is inappropriate to apply for a provisional injunction against the government regarding changes to the university's plans.'' Specialized doctors, medical students, and test takers also filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education to cancel the increase in staff numbers and to halt enforcement.
The first of these lawsuits will be heard by the Administrative Division 13 of the same court. Not only has a hearing date for suspension of execution been set for 10:30 a.m. on the 22nd,
Approximately 900 additional people have filed lawsuits and applications for a stay of execution, so it is expected that the issue of increasing medical school enrollment will continue to be fought in court.