Trainee doctors have said the government’s heavy-handedness led to their decision to resign en masse, claiming that the government is treating them like criminals.

The Korean Intern Resident Association(KIRA) issued the statement on Tuesday, accusing the government of taking extralegal administrative measures such as banning hospitals from accepting resignations and prohibiting collective action.

The KIRA said that if South Korea is truly a liberal democratic country, these extralegal and undemocratic measures should not be taken against anyone, calling for the government to guarantee the basic rights of the people.

The association also referred to the government’s plan to increase the annual enrollment quota at medical schools by two-thousand, calling the number absurd and saying that the government had refused to provide data supporting the number when doctors had requested it.

The KIRA said that it cannot just sit back and watch the government’s implementation of medical policies that are solely for the purpose of winning the general elections, asking the government to formally apologize to trainee doctors.  

The KIRA then asked the government to completely withdraw the plan to increase the quota, set up a body to conduct a scientific estimation of the proper number of doctors and to withdraw the return-to-work order.