The state audit agency concluded that the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration's plan to raise the medical school admissions quota by two-thousand last year was based on an incorrect shortfall projection and was pushed forward without proper consultations or protocols.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said on Thursday that the Yoon government's calculations projecting a shortage of approximately 16,000 doctors by 2035 were incorrect.

The agency said the estimate had combined two separate studies: one estimating a shortage of 4,700 in underserved regions and another projecting a shortfall of 11,000 by 2035.

The BAI said the government had failed to follow proper procedure by announcing its plan before reaching a consensus with the Korean Medical Association.

It added that the education ministry had allocated the additional spots across medical schools without on-site verification or consistent evaluation criteria.