Here’s why thousands of junior doctors in South Korea walked off the job

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and JIWON SONG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of junior doctors in South Korea are a week into a labor boycott in protest of the government’s push to recruit more medical students to cope with the country’s fast-aging population. The strikes have already led to a number of operations being canceled. In some major hospitals, junior doctors account for about 30%-40% of the total doctors. They often deal with inpatients and assist senior doctors during surgeries. The government has warned the medical interns and residents they have until Thursday to return to work, or face license suspensions and prosecutions. Trainee doctors say schools can’t handle an abruptly increased number of medical students that would result from the government’s plan, and greater competition would cause doctors to perform overtreatment.