The government has called the work stoppage illegal and after a Feb 29 deadline passed with no mass return of medics, Seoul said it was moving to suspend the medical licences of striking doctors and called for investigations into organisers.
The Korean Medical Association (KMA), which has been at the forefront of the protest, claiming the reforms will erode service quality, has seen its offices raided, with top members sued over medical law violations and slapped with travel bans.
The KMA’s Joo Soo-ho has been accused of “aiding and abetting” the protests and appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency for questioning on Wednesday.
“I came here with ease because, literally, I have nothing to hide, nor reasons to hide,” the 65-year-old surgeon told reporters before he went inside.
“The charge of instigation can’t be established because we have never instigated” the junior medics to quit en masse, he said.
He said the doctors’ protest was “non-violent” and urged the government to renounce its “stubbornness” and negotiate.
The Wednesday questioning is the first police probe into any medical personnel in connection with the ongoing walkouts by the young doctors.
Despite the warning of licence suspension, striking junior doctors have not returned to work on any significant scale, government data shows.
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