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South Korea says it’ll withdraw its earlier plan to suspend licenses of striking doctors to resolve the country’s long medical impasse. Health Minister Cho Kyoo Hong said Monday the government has decided not to suspend the licenses of the strikers, regardless of whether they return to their hospitals or not. More than 13,000 junior doctors, who are medical interns and residents, walked off the job in February in protest of the government’s plan to sharply boost school admissions.
Their walkouts have significantly burdened the operations of university hospitals where they had worked while training. Their strikes suffered a setback after a Seoul court in May ruled in support of the government’s plan. The government later withdrew its plan to suspend licenses of doctor who returned to their hospitals but didn’t do so on others who remained off the job.