The government will launch administrative and judicial proceedings against trainee doctors who fail to return to work by Thursday, the deadline for trainee doctors to return to work without punishment.

According to government officials, the health ministry plans to keep track of returning doctors until Thursday, before verifying violations of the return-to-work order.

As the government, by law, is required to notify violators in advance of the cause for the administrative action and its legal basis, the notice issued to protesting trainee doctors will likely state their violation of the Medical Services Act as reason for a license suspension.

Second vice health minister Park Min-soo said the government will then listen to the trainee doctors' positions, before deciding whether explanations for their collective action in protest of a planned increase in the medical school admissions quota are valid. The meeting between the two sides is set to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Earlier, the government said doctors who do not return to work by Thursday will face a minimum three-month license suspension, as well as a criminal investigation.