South Korea arrests trainee doctor over 'blacklist' of non-striking colleagues

SEOUL: A South Korean doctor has been arrested for allegedly creating and distributing a "blacklist" of colleagues who are not participating in an ongoing walkout over medical training reforms, media reports and a doctors' organisation said on Saturday (Sep 21).

The case marks the first arrest of a trainee doctor in more than six months of conflict between the government and junior medical practitioners over the prolonged work stoppage, which has resulted in the deaths of some emergency patients.

The medic was arrested on Friday for allegedly creating a list with the names and personal information of colleagues who had either returned to work or otherwise abandoned the walkout, then repeatedly distributing it with malicious intent through applications like Telegram, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The head of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), South Korea's leading doctors' body, met with the detained trainee at a police station in Seoul on Saturday, saying afterwards that the government was to blame for the situation.

"I believe that everyone on the blacklist, as well as the arrested trainee doctor, is a victim," KMA chief Lim Hyun-taek told reporters.

The trainee was being detained on stalking charges, as authorities determined he had harassed the victims by sharing their information - such as phone numbers and their alma maters - without their consent, according to Yonhap and other local reports.

Thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in February to protest government plans to increase medical school admissions to address doctor shortages.

The strike has forced widespread cancellations of surgeries and other treatments like chemotherapy, and has created a staffing crisis in emergency rooms nationwide.

The government finalised in May an admissions hike of around 1,500 students at medical schools in 2025, saying it would help tackle gaps in care as the country's population rapidly ages.

Doctors have insisted that the plan should be scrapped altogether, maintaining that if implemented, the reform would diminish the quality of service and medical education.

Critics of the strike accuse doctors of merely trying to protect their salaries and social status.

The plan had been broadly popular with the public, until the mass work stoppage caused prolonged disruptions to the country's healthcare system, leading to heightened public anxiety.

South Korea's general hospitals rely heavily on trainees for emergency operations and surgeries.