Did South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol say that doctors who went on strike, walking off the job, should be punished with the maximum sentence in court? No, that's not true: The government officially denied the president ever said that.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) by @jj67890 (archived here) on TikTok on February 21, 2024, under the title (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff) "President Yoon mentioned hyper-strong counteraction against doctors who left their patients." It began (as translated):
President Yoon mentioned counteraction against the doctors who abandoned their patients, including requesting the maximum sentence in court
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Feb 22 18:45:37 2024 UTC)
The South Korean government recently decided to expand (archived here) the quota of medical schools, thus admitting more students, to supply more physicians to the medical system, a plan opposed by doctors. As doctors started to protest the policy, approximately 8,900 resident doctors submitted resignation letters, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (archived here) issued on February 23, 2024.
The claim shared in the TikTok video can be traced back to Joo Soo-ho, the public relations committee chairperson of the Korean Medical Association. During the February 21, 2024, briefing of the Medical Association emergency response committee, broadcast live by SBS TV Korea, Joo claimed he read it from a news report, without citing any specific media outlet. Starting from the 9:18 mark of the video (archived here), Joo said (as translated):
I don't know which media outlet said that, but I read a report saying the president said 'The doctors who abandoned their patients should be punished with the maximum sentence in court.'
However, at the Ministry of Health and Welfare briefing (archived here) on February 22, 2024, Deputy Minister Park Min-soo officially refuted Joo's claim (as translated):
Joo Soo-ho, the public relations committee chairperson of the Korean Medical Association said 'I think the president said the doctors who abandoned their patients should be punished with the maximum sentence in court'. I want to make it clear, President Yoon did not say that.
