Negotiations between the government and a group representing the nation's doctors resumed a week after the group walked out of a consultative body to protest the results of the government's medical school quota survey.

At a 19th session of the consultative body on Wednesday, Korean Medical Association's(KMA) chief negotiator Yang Dong-ho accused the government of breaking an earlier pledge not to unilaterally adjust the entrance quota.

Yang said the survey, which showed that universities were in favor of doubling the current quota of three-thousand-58 by 2030, was not conducted in a fair or objective manner, only causing confusion within the medical community.

He then urged the government to first put forth a detailed roadmap under which doctors voluntarily transfer to essential or regional medical service systems.

The health ministry, for its part, expressed regret over the KMA's move last week as well as the mention of a possible strike, urging the doctors' group to present empirical grounds to back their position.

The ministry stressed that no collective action that holds public health and wellbeing as collateral can be justified, calling on the group to prioritize the protection of the people’s lives and health.

During closed-door negotiations, the two sides discussed ways to improve the working environment in the medical industry, such as an adjustment to medical insurance fees for essential services.