The government has sought to refute trainee doctors' claim that its return-to-work order constitutes forced labor as defined by the International Labour Organization(ILO).

In a press release on Thursday, the Ministry of Employment and Labor argued that the administrative order in question falls under the exceptions to the definition of forced and compulsory labor.

The South Korean government's account came after the Korean Intern Resident Association(KIRA) sent a letter to the ILO Secretariat the previous day, requesting its intervention in the current feud. 

As some 90 percent of the nation's trainee doctors walked off their jobs last month in protest of the government's medical reform measures, the government in response issued a back-to-work order and threatened to suspend the resident doctors' medical licenses. 

While asserting that its return-to-work order satisfies requirements that exclude it from being classified as forced labor, the government said that it will explain to the ILO that its move was an inevitable and justified action needed to guarantee the well-being of the South Korean people.