The ruling party in South Korea, the People Power Party, announced that it plans to establish a consultation mechanism next week involving the ruling party, opposition parties, the government, and the medical community, in an effort to resolve the ongoing crisis of doctors resigning en masse that has persisted for several months.

Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party, said on the same day that this consultation mechanism is expected to be established. According to his statement, the ideal scenario is for all parties to agree to participate, but even if the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, refuses to engage, the consultation mechanism will still proceed with relevant discussions as usual.

In this month, the South Korean government and the People Power Party proposed the establishment of a multi-party consultation mechanism to discuss medical reform plans, including the expansion of medical school enrollment. The South Korean government hopes to use this mechanism to engage in dialogue with the medical community, discussing face-to-face how to resolve the issue of a wave of doctors resigning.

According to South Korean media reports, the Democratic Party initially agreed to establish a consultation mechanism, but later adopted a lukewarm attitude, citing the absence of trainee doctors. In the medical community, some groups and organizations have agreed to participate in the consultation, but the largest doctors' group, the Korean Medical Association, opposes the consultation mechanism and insists that the government first withdraw the expansion plan.

The South Korean government announced in early this year a plan to expand medical school enrollment, deciding to increase the annual admission size of medical schools by approximately a certain number of students each year starting from the academic year, aiming to address the shortage of doctors. However, the South Korean medical community strongly opposes this plan, arguing that it will lead to over-medicalization and strain the financial resources of the national health insurance system. Approximately 10,000 Korean interns and resident doctors have already submitted their resignations and gone on strike, causing chaos in medical treatment.