The presidential office is going ahead with its plan to increase medical school admissions quotas for the 2025 academic year, despite a request from the ruling People Power Party to defer the change until 2026. 

An official from the ruling camp said Monday that party Chairman Han Dong-hoon had unofficially suggested the idea as a way to alleviate the shortage of health care workers.

The decision to raise the number of newly admitted medical students by about 15-hundred has already been finalized, however. 

The official said the party suggested putting it off for a year to provide an opportunity for dialogue between the government and the medical community, as well as to encourage the return of the trainee doctors who walked off the job earlier this year to protest the higher quotas.

But the presidential office said it receives various suggestions through diverse channels and the government’s stance remains unchanged. 

Han met with Park Dan, the head of an emergency committee at the Korea Intern Resident Association, last Tuesday to discuss how best to resolve the health care crisis.