SEOUL: A group of South Korean senior doctors said Saturday that they would resign starting March 25 in support of junior medics in a nearly month-long strike over government training reforms that has plunged hospitals into chaos.
Thousands of trainee doctors stopped working on February 20 to protest government reforms aimed at easing doctor shortages by increasing the number of medical students — which the medics claim is the final straw for overworked and underpaid early career professionals.
Crucial surgeries and treatments have been canceled, but the government says the country has so far avoided a full-blown crisis thanks in part to nurses and senior doctors stepping up, as well as military medics who have been sent in to help.
Representatives of medical professors at 20 universities — who are also senior doctors at general hospitals — held a meeting late Friday, with those at 16 institutions “overwhelmingly in favor” of supporting their junior colleagues, said Bang Jae-seung, the head of the group.
Professors at “each university have decided to voluntarily submit resignation letters starting from March 25th,” Bang told reporters Saturday.
But “we have reached a consensus that until the resignation is finalized, each individual should do their best in the treatment of patients in their respective positions, just as they have done so far,” he added.
Bang did not disclose the exact number of professors expected to walk off the job on March 25th.
The health ministry this week reiterated that negotiations over the reform plans were out of the question, saying it would implement the health care reforms “without wavering.”
The government has ordered junior medics to return or face legal action, and has moved to suspend the medical licenses of those who refuse to comply, while offering incentives and setting up a hotline to support any who defy the walkout.
Seoul is pushing to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools annually from next year to address what it says is one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed nations.
Bang said Saturday that doctors cannot agree to an increase of 2,000 more students under any circumstances.
“We request the government once again. Please reconsider the figure of 2,000. Without this, initiating any negotiation will be impossible,” he said.
“If the current situation continues, it won’t be long before university hospitals collapse, dealing a significant and long-lasting blow to our country’s medical system,” he added.
Doctors say they fear the reform will erode the quality of service and medical education, but proponents of the plan accuse them of trying to safeguard their salaries and social status.
This week, the junior doctors said they had submitted a “letter requesting emergency intervention” from the International Labour Organization (ILO), claiming they were being “forced” by the government into unwanted labor. The government has dismissed the claim.
The reform plan enjoys broad public support, but a new poll by local media found 34 percent of people wanted the government to negotiate to end the standoff.
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South Korean senior doctors to resign in support of junior medics’ walkout
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South Korean senior doctors to resign in support of junior medics’ walkout
- Thousands of trainee doctors stopped working on February 20 to protest government reforms
- Seoul is pushing to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools annually from next year
Trump has ‘productive’ talks with Putin before Zelensky meet
- Trump’s upbeat tone on peace deal comes after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of Kyiv
- US president due to meet Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago estate today
PALM BEACH: Donald Trump said Sunday he had “productive” talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin hours before the US president meets Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in a year-end sprint to seal a deal to end the war.
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
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