South Korea slows plan to hike medical school admissions as doctors’ strike drags on

By KIM TONG-HYUNG
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government says it will slow down a plan to admit more students to the country’s medical schools from next year, in a bid to end a weeks-long strike by thousands of doctors. More than 90% of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents have been on strike since late February, when the government announced a plan to recruit 2,000 more students next year. That would have increased the current cap of 3,058, which has been the same since 2006, by about two-thirds. The government adopted a compromise proposal put forward by the presidents of six state-run universities on Thursday, under which medical schools will increase admissions over several years.