An association of professors from medical schools said on Sunday that it will file a petition with the Constitutional Court to secure the legal recognition of medical professors as workers. 

Kim Chang-soo, the head of the Medical Professors Association of Korea (MPAK), a coalition of professors from 40 medical schools, unveiled the plan on Sunday. 

Kim said that the association plans to file the petition while promoting and invigorating the existing labor union of medical professors by creating local branches of the union at 40 medical schools nationwide in the second half of the year.

Mentioning a 2022 court ruling that decided that medical professors are not workers, the MPAK chief said during an interview with a medical journal that medical professors are not subject to the Labor Standards Act and work at hospitals without employment contracts.

Kim claimed that there is no clear legal basis or protection in relation to the medical care of medical professors affiliated with universities.