While the Korean Medical Association (KMA) has declared a full-scale collective strike on the 18th, the KMA leadership is encouraging doctors to participate.
According to the medical community on the 11th, President of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) Lim Hyun Taek claimed in a letter sent to KMA members. He wrote, “The government is once again threatening unconstitutional and illegal strike notice orders and administrative actions. Why should we obey the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s strike notice like medical slaves?”
He continued, “It is an order of enslavement from a government that is so incalculable that it imposes a 15-day suspension of business to prevent a one-day strike.” He added, “To become a veteran who is not ashamed of the newcomers (residents) who have been out in the wilderness for over 100 days, I am willing to live as a free citizen liberated from medical slavery.”
Vice President of KMA Park Yong Eon also appealed for participation in the June 18 strike through social media, sharing, “I will go to jail. Let’s not become embarrassing sunbaes (pronounced sun-bay: Korean term for a veteran).”
Previously, the KMA had decided to hold a collective break and a general meeting on the 18th through a national doctors’ representative meeting on the 9th.
In a vote in which 63.3% (70,800 people) of KMA voters participated, 90.6% agreed to the question, “Do you support a hard-line struggle against the government?” and 73.5% agreed to the question “Will you participate in collective action?”
Accordingly, to respond to the mass closure of medical associations, the government issued an order to report medical treatment and closure the day before.
Director of the Health and Medical Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Jeon Byung Wan announced, “Based on the Medical Law, we will issue an order to conduct treatment on the 18th, and medical institutions intending to take a close should report by the 13th. If the closure rate exceeds 30%, we will increase it with a work start order.”
Medical practitioners who fail to comply with the order to commence work may be subject to a 15-day suspension of practice and a license suspension for up to one year.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare will also begin reviewing whether the KMA violates the Fair Trade Act. The Fair Trade Act prohibits business groups from unfairly restricting competition between businesses or the activities of businesses, and it will examine whether the KMA’s encouragement of group closures falls under this.
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