Korean trainee doctors, seeking intervention from the International Labor Organization (ILO) to defy the government's return-to-work order, were rejected as ineligible for an opinion, the Korean government said.

Earlier, the Korea Intern Resident Association (KIRA) sent an urgent intervention request to the ILO, stating that the government's order violated Article 59, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Medical Service Act, as well as the ILO's Convention No. 29 on the prohibition of forced labor.

In a press release on Thursday, the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated that the ILO Secretariat had closed the request for an opinion on whether the government's March 13 order to commence work violated ILO Convention No. 29 on Forced and Compulsory Labor.

The ILO Secretariat limits eligibility to request an opinion to governments that are members of the ILO Tripartite Committee or to representative labor organizations at home and abroad. It appears that the ILO Secretariat determined the KIRA was ineligible to request an opinion because it was not recognized as a labor organization.

The Labor Ministry clarified that "the only parties eligible to request an opinion are governments that are members of the ILO Tripartite Committee or nationally and internationally representative trade union organizations, and the KIRA was not recognized as such."