The education ministry pledged to consult with universities and related ministries to seek ways for medical students to return to their studies, after they expressed a wish to end a 17-month boycott of classes in protest of the medical school admissions quota hike.

With the consultation underway, ministry deputy spokesperson Cha Young-a said on Monday that it is difficult to clearly state the ministry's position on whether to allow academic flexibility for the students wishing to return, suggesting a possible change of stance as it had previously rejected the idea.

On Saturday, Korea Medical Student Association interim chief Lee Sun-woo urged the government to put forth comprehensive measures to enable the students to resume their studies.

The interim leader emphasized that the students are not asking for preferential treatment such as academic flexibility, but will make use of the summer break and summer school to study.

Universities, however, say it would be impossible to normalize the returning students' academics without some flexible measures.
 
According to the ministry, some eight-thousand-300 students, or 40 percent of students at the nation's medical schools were notified of a failure or expulsion as of late May.