I wonder if Governor Sanders is visiting South Korea in an effort to get Korean car manufacturers to locate in Arkansas?:
President Yoon Suk Yeol met with the governor of Arkansas, the United States, on Monday to discuss ways to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
The meeting with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary during the Donald Trump administration, took place at the presidential office. Sanders is visiting Seoul as part of a two-nation trade mission to South Korea and Japan.
“Just like the 70-year-old South Korea-U.S. alliance that is evolving into a comprehensive global partnership, I hope cooperation between South Korea and Arkansas could deepen in many ways,” Yoon said during the meeting.
Yoon also pointed to the special tie that South Korea has with Arkansas, the home of Gen. Douglas MacArthur whose leadership in the Korean War battle of Incheon resulted in a decisive victory.
The strike by trainee doctors on the behest of Korean doctors trying to protect the scarcity of doctors in the ROK has now led to the suspension of thousands of medical licenses. To really end this strike the government needs to find a way to protect the trainee doctors from retaliation from their doctor supervisors if they return to their hospitals:
The health ministry said Monday it had sent prior notices of license suspension to some 5,000 trainee doctors who have defied an order to return to work, in protest of a plan to boost the number of medical students.
Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang told reporters that it completed sending the notices to 4,944 junior doctors last week. When receiving the notices, the doctors will be required to submit their opinions on punitive measures by March 25.
With the government vowing to take legal action against junior doctors making threats to their colleagues, or impeding their return to hospitals, the ministry opened a hotline to protect physicians wishing to return, Jun said.
“The government will spare no efforts to help trainee doctors wishing to return to hospitals,” Jun said.
So even the Korean medical professors are joining in on the effort to keep the number of doctors in Korea artificially low. These creates a scarcity of the service they provide thus driving higher prices:
Some medical school professors shaved their heads or tendered resignations on Tuesday in protest over the government’s plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota, as the strike by about 9,000 trainee doctors entered its third week and the health ministry threatened to take disciplinary action against those defying a return-to-work order.
As 40 medical schools nationwide applied for a combined 3,401 additional admission seats by the Monday deadline in response to the government’s plan to hike the enrollment quota by 2,000 beginning next year, medical professors further stepped up their protests.
About 10 professors of Kangwon National University’s medical school in Chuncheon, 76 kilometers east of Seoul, held a hair-shaving ceremony Tuesday morning, expressing their opposition to the university’s application for an additional enrollment quota.
“Though many professors expressed their opposition to an increase in new admissions, the university made the opposite decision,” said Ryu Se-min, head of Kangwon National University’s medical school.
The trainee doctors are only facing a year supsension of their medical license which appears to be having little effect. According to the article of the 8,945 trainee doctors that left their worksites, only 565 have since returned to avoid the suspension:
The health ministry said Monday it started taking procedures to suspend the licenses of around 7,000 trainee doctors who have defied the government’s order to go back to work, warning that such punishment would be “irreversible.”
About 9,000 trainee doctors remained off their jobs at general hospitals for the 14th consecutive day Monday, protesting the plan to add 2,000 more medical school seats starting next year, from the current 3,058.
Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said the government has taken steps to suspend the medical licenses of trainee doctors who left their worksites.
This is pretty troubling that so many fewer Koreans are deciding to get married:
The number of marriages in South Korea plummeted 40 percent over the past 10 years, leading to a decrease in the country’s birthrate, government data showed Sunday.
A total of 193,673 marriages were reported last year, sharply down from 322,807 cases in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.
The 2023 tally was slightly higher than the 191,690 marriages reported in 2022, but the yearly tally decreased for 11 consecutive years from 2012 to 2022.
Some professions like the military, police, and fire departments should not be allowed to protest because of the important public servant roles they play. It seems doctors should be part of that group. How many people will have negative health outcomes from all the cancelled appointments from these doctors striking to stop an increase medical providers to rural areas?:
Tens of thousands of doctors held a rally in western Seoul on Sunday to protest the government’s medical school quota hike plan as Prime Minister Han Duck-soo hinted at the possible suspension of medical licenses for striking trainee doctors.
The rally by member doctors of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the biggest medical lobby group, came as thousands of trainee doctors have remained off their jobs at general hospitals for the 13th day, protesting the plan to add 2,000 more medical school seats starting next year.
Crowds of doctors filled up a street in Seoul’s western district of Yeouido, waving protesting flags and holding up signs reading “Absolute opposition to a medical school quota hike without agreement from medical fields,” or “Unprepared medical school quota hike compromises medical education.”
Look at the shady tactics these doctors are using to increase their protest numbers:
The presidential office also vowed to respond with “zero tolerance” after allegations emerged online that some doctors were trying to forcibly mobilize drug salesmen for their rally protesting the government’s medical school quota hike plan.
Ahead of Sunday’s rally, several postings appeared on online communities, claiming that some doctors were forcing salesmen of pharmaceutical companies to join the gathering.
Salesmen of pharmaceutical companies are often under the sway of doctors who have the authority to prescribe or change certain drugs. A posting said, “I am being forcibly mobilized because a doctor I trade with said he will change drugs if I do not show up.”
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Does the government have the will to suspend or fire all these doctors? Pretty clearly the medical community does not think so.
Can anyone think of a strike where people were protesting against the addition of jobs? That is essentially what this is. The government wants more medical school slots to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas and current doctor trainees do not want this:
A mass walkout by trainee doctors is approaching a deadline set by the government to return to work, as medical services have been crippled with both the government and junior doctors showing little signs of backing down.
About 9,000 trainee doctors walked off their jobs for the ninth day in a row Wednesday, as the government ordered them to go back to work by Thursday. Unless they return to work, they will face suspension of licenses and even indictment.
At the center of the dispute is the government’s plan to boost the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 next year, from the current 3,058.
On Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said the plan is a “minimum necessary measure” to address a shortage of doctors and stressed that, “This cannot and should not be a subject for negotiation or compromise.”
How can the operators of this business overlook not securing the carabiner before a bungee jump? Condolences to the deceased friends and family because this is absolutely horrible:
This Yonhap file photo shows Starfield Anseong Mall. (Yonhap)
A woman in her 60s died after falling from a bungee jumping platform at a large shopping mall in Anseong, just south of Seoul, on Monday, police said.
The victim, whose identity has been withheld, plummeted eight meters to the concrete floor at a sports experience facility housed at Starfield Anseong Mall, they said. The facility offers various experience facilities, such as bungee jumping and climbing.
The victim was wearing safety equipment at the moment, but a key safety component, a carabiner, which is a type of safety hook, was unsecured at the time, they said.
