Seoul says most striking doctors will not return to hospitals

Some 12,000 trainee doctors stopped working on February 20 to protest reforms aimed at creating more medics to address shortages, forcing widespread cancellations of surgeries and other key treatments like chemotherapy.

The government has refused to backtrack on the reforms, which it says are essential to care for a rapidly aging population, but it has recently sought to lure medics back to work, saying they would not face disciplinary action.

"Unfortunately, it appears that the majority of junior doctors will not return," Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Thursday.

The Health Ministry told AFP that as of Wednesday morning, only 8.4 percent of trainee doctors at 211 general hospitals nationwide had shown up for work.

Many striking doctors had handed in their resignations at the outset of the protest, and the government recently told hospitals to finalize the terminations of those who had not returned by Monday, ultimately allowing them to find work elsewhere.

Park Dan, the head of the Korean Intern Resident Association, had on Wednesday accused hospital directors of "interfering" with young doctors' efforts to find employment elsewhere and threatened legal action.

The reform plan is broadly popular with the public, and its proponents say doctors are simply trying to safeguard their salaries and social status.

Patients suffering from severe illnesses, meanwhile, say they are the biggest victims of the strike.

Kim Sung-ju, the head of the Korean Cancer Patients Rights Council, said both the government and the trainee doctors were responsible for the latest development.

"The government has not presented any concrete plans or viable solutions to address the shortage of trainee doctors," he told AFP.

"Trainee doctors have claimed they are being cast as 'villains', but it's unclear whether that characterization is entirely inaccurate at this stage."