SEOUL: The South Korean government issued a return-to-work order for private practitioners on Tuesday as more doctors including medical professors join the months-long strike to protest increasing medical school admissions.
Around four percent of some 36,000 private clinics have notified the government of plans to be closed on Tuesday to take part in the protest, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said.
“To minimize the medical gap, the return-to-work order will be issued at 9 a.m. today,” Cho told a briefing.
The government previously issued a return-to-work order to striking trainee doctors before withdrawing it earlier this month as an olive branch.
Under the law, doctors defying the return-to-work order can face suspension of their licenses or other legal repercussions.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said the doctors’ strike was “regretful and disappointing.”
“(The government) has no choice but to sternly deal with the illegal acts neglecting patients,” Yoon said during a cabinet meeting, while offering to work together if the doctors return to work.
The Korea Medical Association, a critic of the government’s reforms, was leading Tuesday’s strike. The group also staged a protest in Seoul on the same day, calling for reconsideration of increasing medical school admissions.
“The government should respect...all doctors in this land as life-saving experts, not slaves, and listen to their voices,” Association President Lim Hyun-taek said.
At least some 10,000 people showed up for the protest, according to a Reuters witness, with protesters wearing a makeshift hat saying: “Prevent medical collapse.”
According to a survey by local pollster nownsurvey conducted last week, nearly eight in 10 South Koreans oppose the doctors’ strike.
Some doctors and medical staff have openly criticized the collective action in response to the government’s push for an increase in medical school admissions to address the shortage of doctors in the country.
Others have argued that increasing the number of doctors alone will do little to shore up essential services and rural areas grappling with a deepening shortage of doctors.
More than half of medical professors at Seoul National University hospitals on Monday went on indefinite strike, the Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korea orders doctors to return to work amid prolonged strike
https://arab.news/6nnt4
South Korea orders doctors to return to work amid prolonged strike
- Around four percent of some 36,000 private clinics have notified the government of plans to be closed on Tuesday to take part in the protest
- The government previously issued a return-to-work order to striking trainee doctors before withdrawing it earlier this month
Cambodia says Thailand bombs casino hub on border
- The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia said Thailand’s military on Thursday bombed the casino town of Poipet, a major crossing between the two nations, as foreign powers pressured them to halt reignited border clashes.
Thai forces “dropped two bombs in the area of Poipet Municipality, Banteay Meanchey Province” at around 11:00 am (0400 GMT) Thursday, the Cambodian defense ministry said in a statement.
Thailand has not yet confirmed any strike on Poipet — a bustling casino hub popular with Thai gamblers.
The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 21 people in Thailand and 17 in Cambodia, while displacing around 800,000, officials said.
The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.
Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians.
Thailand said Tuesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Thai nationals remained stranded in Poipet after Cambodia closed its land border crossings with its neighbor.
Cambodia’s interior ministry said the border closures were a “necessary measure” to reduce risks to civilians amid the ongoing combat, adding that air travel remained an option for those seeking to leave.
At least four casinos in Cambodia have been damaged by Thai strikes, the interior ministry said this week.
- ‘Shuttle-diplomacy’ -
Five days of fighting between Cambodia and Thailand in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the United States, China and Malaysia, and then broken within months.
US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly intervened in the long-standing conflict this year, claimed last week that the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.
But Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets has continued daily since a border skirmish earlier this month sparked the latest round of conflict.
China said it was sending its special envoy for Asian affairs to Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday for a “shuttle-diplomacy trip” to help bridge the gaps and “rebuild peace.”
“Through its own way, China has been working actively for deescalation,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from ASEAN regional bloc nations are due to meet on Monday in Malaysia for emergency talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.
“Our duty is to present the facts but more important is to press upon them that it is imperative for them to secure peace,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told journalists late Wednesday.
“We are appealing to them to immediately stop this frontline offensive and if possible, an immediate ceasefire,” Anwar said at his official residence in Putrajaya, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the talks.
European Commission vice president Kaja Kallas said in a statement that she had spoken with the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand on Wednesday, offering the European Union’s support for ceasefire monitoring with satellite imagery.
“The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia must not be allowed to spiral further. That’s why the ceasefire needs to be immediately restored,” Kallas said.
