The Korean government has expressed its intention to bring back as many resigned trainee doctors as possible if they show a willingness to return, instead of clinging to those who do not.

It also officially acknowledged that some resigned interns and residents will never go back to work.

The government said so at a regular briefing of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters to deal with the collective action of doctors on Wednesday morning, explaining how it will push for the return of trainee doctors.

“The government has recently been listening to opinions on the return of medical residents through training hospitals,” Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo said. “We initially asked them to report by Tuesday but extended the deadline to Friday. We hope that doctors will actively present their frank opinions and requests for their return to work.”

Noting that some hospitals are already having conversations with physicians, Park said that trainee doctors could aks for additional consultations. He added that even if 100 percent of the consultations are not made, the government will judge the results and use them as a basis for establishing relevant measures for specialists.

“The government will do its utmost to minimize disadvantages for returning doctors,” he said. “We will differentiate between junior doctors who return and those who do not.”

Vice Minister Park acknowledged there will be various opinions among trainee doctors but there must be junior doctors who want to return.

“We don't know the scale of (the return), but we know it's significant,” he said. “There will be some who will never return. Our priority is to make it easy for them (returning doctors) to come back. We are preparing the best possible plan for them to return.”

According to the ministry, the number of trainee doctors working in hospitals increased by 122, from 577 on April 30 to 699 on Tuesday. A total of 864 trainee doctors (8.2 percent of the total) are now working in 211 training hospitals.