Seoul to push ahead with increasing medical students apart from court’s judgment

The government said it would proceed with the final approval process for increasing the medical school enrollment quota for the class of 2025, independently of the high court's decision to suspend the enforcement of the increase.

In response to the tribunal's request to provide evidence for its decision to increase medical school students by 2,000 and allocate the increased quota to 40 universities, it said it would submit the evidence by May 10 as requested.

The government said so at a regular briefing of the Central Disaster and Safety Measure Headquarters on Wednesday.

First, the government said the court’s decision does not conflict with the government's policy implementation schedule.

"Each university submits a plan for the implementation of the college entrance examination system to the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), which deliberates and approves it accordingly and then notifies each university, usually in late May," said Jun Byung-wang, head of the Healthcare Policy Office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Jun continued, "Since the tribunal's decision on suspending the enforcement order is in mid-May, we can accommodate the tribunal's request that 'final approval should not be made before the enforcement suspension order is decided' and still proceed with the KCUE’s (subsequent) approval process by the end of May."

Jun added that it should be understood that the timeline will not be delayed or shortened (by the court's request) but will proceed as usual.

He also expressed the ministry’s intention to accept the request to increase medical school students by 2,000 and provide evidence for allocating seats in 40 universities.

"We plan to diligently prepare the materials requested by the tribunal and submit them by the May 10 deadline," said Jun. "What materials we submit will be a matter of the litigation process, and so we will prepare them carefully to the tribunal's satisfaction," he said.

Jun continued, "I don't think it's appropriate to say what materials we will submit. We will have to wait and see the outcome of the case."