Medical Students Back, Challenges Remain

All medical students at Pusan National University (PNU), who had been on a collective leave of absence for one year and one month, officially returned on March 31st. However, concerns persist over whether medical school operations will return to normal this year, as a growing number of medical students nationwide plan to continue their protests even after re-enrolling.

On March 31st, the School of Medicine at PNU announced that all 600 students on leave had completed their re-enrollment applications. After the Emergency Response Committee (ERC) of the School of Medicine declared their collective intent to return on the 30th, PNU reopened the online system for final re-enrollment applications from 6pm on March 30th to 6pm on the 31st. Although failure to pay tuition would cancel the re-enrollment, putting students at risk of expulsion, the Head Offices has decided to extend the payment deadline as much as possible to accommodate individual circumstances. Given these processes, the return of all students can be considered effectively complete.

However, whether students will resume attending classes remains uncertain. According to the medical community on March 31st, medical students at Seoul National University and Yonsei University, who had already completed their return-to-school applications, announced that they would continue their protest after registering and would provide guidelines regarding the movement. Meanwhile, at Korea University, a survey conducted on March 30th regarding post-return protest plans revealed that 106 students (23.4%) had no intention of continuing the protests. An official from the Head Offices stated, “We are currently reviewing measures regarding potential class boycotts after re-enrollment. We will do our best to ensure normal academic operations.”

PNU now faces the challenge of normalizing School of Medicine operations. If students continue their protests through reapplying for leave or refusing to attend classes, they risk academic penalties, including potential expulsions due to repeated failures. Students who refuse to attend classes could face academic consequences: freshmen who were admitted in 2025 are not permitted to take a leave of absence under university regulations, and as of April 7th, they will have missed in excess of one-third of the required class attendance, resulting in failing grades due to insufficient attendance. For students who were admitted in 2024, re-enrollment may not be an option, according to Article 68 of the University Regulations (Re-admission) that students expelled for academic reasons may only be re-admitted within the total enrollment capacity.

Despite the uncertainty, PNU is preparing to resume in-person classes for returning students. Currently, pre-medical students in years 1 and 2, as well as first- and second-year medical students, are taking online courses, but in-person classes will begin as soon as preparations are complete. Clinical training for third- and fourth-year medical students, which was initially scheduled to resume this week, has been postponed by one week. An official from Head Offices explained, “We aim to transition to in-person classes as soon as students are ready. The earliest possible date would be from March 31st to April 6th, but at the latest, we are considering April 7th.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has set course attendance as the key criterion for recognizing medical students’ return, raising concerns about potential disruptions if students continue their protests post-re-enrollment. In a regular briefing on March 31st, the MOE stated that returning to school means not just re-enrollment but actual class participation. Previously, on March 7th, the MOE had announced that the planned increase in medical school admissions for the 2026 academic year would be frozen at the previous level of 3,058 students, provided all medical students returned — effectively maintaining the pre-expansion quota.

Reporter Jeong Su-Vin

Translated by Seo Yoo-Jung