South Korea Approves National Medical Graduate School to Curb Doctor Shortages

South Korea’s National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee approved the National Medical Graduate School Establishment Act, a flagship policy for President Lee Jae-myung’s healthcare agenda. The president publicly congratulated Park Joo-min, the committee chair who led the bill through the committee, in a post shared on social media.

The act aims to have the government directly train physicians by creating a national medical graduate school to fill gaps in public health care. Under the plan, students who complete the program and receive their licenses would be required to serve in the public medical sector for 15 years.

The government intends to accelerate the project, targeting an opening around 2030 and an annual intake of about 100 students, according to the committee’s passage.

Park Joo-min wrote on SNS that the national medical graduate school, together with the regional doctor system, the telemedicine law, and the essential medical care strengthening law, represents steady forward momentum in healthcare reform. President Lee shared the post and thanked him for a difficult but consequential achievement.

Observers view the move as a legislative breakthrough amid a long-running rift between the medical community and lawmakers over how to reform Korea’s health system. The development signals a potential turning point in how Korea addresses physician shortages and distribution, especially in less urban areas.

The article notes that today’s public endorsement by the president comes after prior comments about Park’s bid in the Seoul mayoral race, marking the first reference since Park announced his candidacy in December. The president had previously praised another Seoul mayoral hopeful, Jeong Won-oh, former head of Seongdong District, in December.

For U.S. readers, the stakes go beyond Korea’s borders. The policy illustrates how Korea is tackling doctor shortages and public health deployment through education reform and compulsory service, a topic of interest for international health systems grappling with similar challenges. It also intersects with global discussions on telemedicine, health-tech integration, and cross-border collaboration in medical education and workforce planning.