The Korean Intern Resident Association(KIRA) launched a single-day strike on Friday in protest of a government plan to raise the admission quota at medical schools.

The group's collective action began at 7:00 a.m. Friday and will end at 7:00 a.m. Saturday.

In addition to the work stoppage, KIRA will hold outdoor demonstrations in eight locations around the country, blood donation relays and policy debates.

Prior to this, the government announced a plan to raise medical school admission quotas to bolster the number of doctors by four-thousand over the next ten years.

KIRA opposes the plan and the establishment of public medical schools, citing concerns over patient safety and the training environment. It also claims the government's policy was carried out unilaterally with little communication with doctors.