Presidential Office: ”Self-approval of medical school leave of absence, not full permission for leave of absence” = South Korea

The President's Office clarified that allowing universities to autonomously approve requests for leave of absence from medical students for personal reasons does not mean that collective leave of absence will be allowed.
A senior official in the presidential office met with reporters on the 29th and said, "There is no change to the government's previous position that a leave of absence due to a union is not a legitimate reason for a leave of absence."
"As in the case of Seoul National University's College of Medicine, the processing of hundreds of students' leave of absence applications all at once without the university's decision or confirmation does not seem like a normal process," he added.
The official added, "The government and the university have decided to work together to open a comparative studies program that students taking a leave of absence from the 2024 academic year can participate in."
The official said, "Rather than leaving the students on a hiatus, we decided to open a comparative studies program so that interested students could participate.
In addition to offering this program, the university has also decided to preemptively prepare its curriculum operation plan for the 2025 academic year."
Prior to this, the Ministry of Education said on the same day that the medical school system would be revised only if students were to return to school in the 2025 academic year.
The university has retracted its decision to approve leave of absence for undergraduate students, and has decided to leave it to the university's autonomous discretion to approve leave of absence requested by students for personal reasons.
However, most universities allow students to take a leave of absence for up to two consecutive semesters in their academic regulations, so he began his leave of absence in the first semester of this year.
Most medical students will have to return to school in the first semester of next year in accordance with school regulations.