South Korea advances National Medical School plan to train essential healthcare personnel
The Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla Province) provincial government said the National Medical School Establishment and Operation Act passed the full committee of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, bringing closer a plan to create a national medical school focused on essential and public health care personnel.
Under the bill, the National Medical School would be established as a four-year graduate university and would include explicit government funding for student education. Selected students would have their tuition covered in full, and after graduation they would be required to complete 15 years of mandatory service at public health facilities.
The proposal sets an annual admission cap of about 100 students for the National Medical School, with this intake separate from any expansion of existing medical schools. The government has linked the plan to broader efforts to strengthen regional medical staffing and public health capacity.
The government’s policy package also includes establishing a regional doctor system and creating medical schools in regions that lack them. The administration targets launching the National Medical School by 2030, with legislation and site procurement to be completed by the first half of 2026.
This initiative follows years of debate, including the closure of Southwestern University’s medical college in 2018, and is framed as a means to address persistent regional disparities in medical staffing and to reinforce South Korea’s public healthcare system.
![Removing patients from old school building at Ponce (AMM 146), National Museum of Health and Medicine
Description: "Removing patients from old school building at Ponce, [Puerto Rico]. This building was in charge of Miss Chandler of New York."
Date: circa Spanish-American War
Photo ID: AMM 146
Source collection: OHA 74: Army Medical Museum Photographs
Repository: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historical Archives
Rights: No known restrictions upon publication, physical copy retained by National Museum of Health and Medicine. Publication and high resolution image requests should be directed to the NMHM (<a href="http://www.medicalmuseum.mil/" rel="nofollow">www.medicalmuseum.mil/</a>)](https://journalkor.site/content/images/2026/03/02_Removing_patients_from_old_school_building_at_Ponce__AMM_146___National_Museum_of_Health_and_Medicine__4831530236_.jpg)
Jeollabuk-do Governor Kim Kwan-young described the National Medical School as a core national project to narrow regional medical gaps and boost public healthcare. He thanked National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee member Park Hee-seung for advancing the bill and emphasized ongoing collaboration with the legislature and the government to keep the process on track.
Kim stressed the urgency of solving shortages of essential and public medical personnel and pledged that the provincial administration would work toward ensuring high-quality medical services are accessible to residents regardless of where they live.