Anchor: Medical students have rebutted a claim from the education ministry that nearly 97 percent of students at the country’s 40 medical schools had resumed their studies as of Monday. An association representing medical students throughout the nation says that on the contrary, their protest against the government’s admissions quota hike is not over yet. Based on its own survey data, the group suggested that many students are registering for classes but have no plans to attend.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: A day after the deadline for the nation’s medical students to resume their studies, the Ministry of Education announced that nearly 97 percent have returned, but medical students told a different story.

According to the ministry on Tuesday, 96-point-nine percent of students at the country’s 40 medical schools have come back.

Among the so-called Big Five medical schools, Seoul National University, Sungkyunkwan University, University of Ulsan and the Catholic University of Korea saw 100 percent of their students register for classes, while the figure for Yonsei University stood at 93-point-eight percent.

The school with the lowest return rate was Inje University, with only 24 percent as of Monday, but by Wednesday all its medical students had reportedly decided to return.

The government announced its March 31 deadline early last month, promising to set the medical school admissions quota for the 2026 academic year at three-thousand-58 if enough students returned.

That would be a return to the earlier admissions quota, before the government raised it last year and triggered the mass boycott of classes by medical students.

However, the Korean Medical Student Association said Wednesday that its own survey of nearly six-thousand-600 students at 15 universities found that only three-point-eight percent are taking or plan to take classes, adding that the association will continue to fight.

Heads of universities with medical schools, in response, warned that students who continue to boycott classes after registering will face failure or expulsion under school regulations.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.