The interim chief of the Korea Intern Resident Association offered an apology on Monday to patient groups and the public for the suffering caused by the prolonged conflict between young doctors and the government over health care reforms.

Han Sung-jon, the association’s emergency committee chair, said during his first meeting with the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization, “I apologize to the people who must have been suffering and anxious due to the conflict that has been prolonged for more than a year and five months.”
 
He stressed the medical community is not free from responsibility, but also said nothing can be solved through illegal orders, excessive regulation and oppression.
 
In response, the patients group said the “real victims” here are the patients and that conflicts that cause serious gaps in service must not occur.

Ahn Ki-jong, the head of the patients group, called on Han to promise to never again use the lives of patients as a means to oppose government policy.

Ahn also criticized the government and the ruling party for only focusing on the return of medical students and trainee doctors while showing “a lack of interest” in improving systems or legislation to prevent a recurrence of the health care crisis and compensating patients who suffered harm.