South Korea to add 3,342 medical school seats outside Seoul by 2031

SEOUL – The government said Tuesday it will add 3,342 medical school seats over five years from 2027 to 2031, as part of efforts to ease doctor shortages outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, medical school quotas at universities outside Seoul will be expanded gradually, rising from 490 additional seats in the 2027 academic year to 613 in 2028 and 2029, before increasing to 813 in both 2030 and 2031.

The incremental expansion is intended to limit pressure on training capacity, the ministry said.

Of the total increase, 2,942 seats will be allocated to existing medical schools outside Seoul between 2027 and 2031. An additional 400 seats will be assigned to newly established public medical schools and regional medical schools between 2030 and 2031.

The government estimates that the new plan will yield 3,542 additional doctors by 2037.

Students admitted through the expanded quota will receive government financial support and will be required to work in regional public medical institutions for 10 years after graduation.

The ministry said the finalized plan was voted on and passed after seven rounds of discussion with both doctor and patient groups, following the release of supply-and-demand projections by the Physician Workforce Projection Committee.

Medical school quotas had been reduced gradually since 2000, following the introduction of the separation of prescribing and dispensing of medicines, and were fixed at 3,058 seats by 2006. The quota was sharply expanded to 5,058 seats in 2025, before being readjusted to 4,567 seats in the same year, and to 3,058 seats in 2026.

Based on supply-demand modeling, the government estimates a shortage of 4,724 doctors by 2037. Taking into account that new public and regional medical schools are expected to begin producing doctors in 2030, the ministry calculated that 4,124 more doctors will need to be trained to meet projected demand.

The ministry said detailed quota allocations for each of the 32 medical schools outside Seoul will be announced in April, following deliberation by the Ministry of Education.

The government also unveiled measures to support medical education and regional doctors in line with the expanded enrollment.

It pledged to strengthen facilities, faculty capacity and educational resources, and to establish regional physician support centers to assist students with career exploration and post-graduation pathways.

Students will also be given more opportunities for clinical training at both university hospitals and local clinics.

The government also plans to revise regulations to restrict regional universities from conducting clinical training outside their designated areas, such as in Seoul.

The government said it will expand funding for research and development to create a continuous line between education, research and clinical practice.

It will prepare a comprehensive plan to strengthen the role and capacity of national university hospitals, stressing that all 10 national university hospitals are currently building advanced clinical education and training centers.

The government will also review measures to ensure smooth eligibility for national licensing exams for students admitted in the 2024 and 2025 academic years, and consider flexible adjustments to residency training quotas.

Most students enrolled in those two years participated in a mass walkout during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration when medical school quotas were increased.

The regional doctor system will apply to medical schools in eight regions outside Seoul: Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province; North Chungcheong Province; Gwangju and North Jeolla Province; Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province; Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province; Gangwon Province; Jeju Island; and Gyeonggi Province and Incheon.

The government said it will also devise incentive measures to encourage doctors to work in regional areas, though specific details were not immediately disclosed.

In the meantime, the government will increase the use of contract-based essential doctor programs, hiring senior physicians, and expanding artificial intelligence-based remote medical services to address regional shortages.

The issue remains politically sensitive following unprecedented walkouts by more than 10,000 medical interns and residents in 2024, as well as widespread class boycotts by medical students, sparked by the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s plan for a sharp enrollment increase.

President Lee Jae Myung had pledged to expand public medical education, though on a smaller scale than his predecessor.

“I remember the hardships faced by doctors and the public in the past due to the conflict surrounding the expansion of the number of physicians,” said Health Minister Jung Eun-kyung. “It is meaningful that today’s expansion was decided following the deliberations from the Physician Workforce Projection Committee.”

“The government will continue to communicate with the public and physicians.”

However, the Korean Medical Association protested the decision, walking out of Tuesday’s meeting and boycotting the vote.