The nation's nurses will take collective action in protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol's veto of the contentious Nursing Act.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Korean Nurses Association President Kim Young-kyung said the group will stage a work-to-rule strike that will include the refusal of doctors' orders for illegal treatments.

The group will establish a call center to receive reports on illegal treatment practices and operate an on-site inspection team to monitor medical facilities for proxy execution of prescription writing, surgical operations, blood collection, and sonograms.

The association chief said the group will immediately begin a one-month campaign to hand in the licenses of nurses nationwide to the health ministry, and will seek the expulsion of the health minister and vice ministers for alleged power abuse.

Nurses plan to stage a rally at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square on Friday to condemn the government for rejecting the law and call for the eradication of political corruption.

Proponents of the law say it will improve working conditions by specifying the roles and duties of nurses to prevent overwork, while detractors contend that it authorizes nurses to interfere in the duties of doctors and possibly provide legal grounds for nurses to open their own clinics.​