Ha Chul Song, President of Mokpo National University, Abruptly Resigns, Taking Responsibility for Failure to Secure National Medical School

"As President, I Failed to Meet Residents' Hopes"

Submits Resignation to Ministry of Education

"Rushed Evaluation with Only 1.3-Point Difference"

Urges Government for Medical Countermeasures

Ha Chul Song, President of National Mokpo University, has abruptly resigned, taking responsibility for the university’s failure to secure the national medical school for the Jeonnam region.

On the 31st, President Song announced in an official statement that he had submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Education. He said, “As president, I feel deeply responsible for not living up to the hopes of Mokpo citizens and the residents of western Jeonnam, who have believed in and supported the establishment of a medical school for 36 long years,” explaining the background behind his decision to step down.

Sangha Cheol Song, President of Mokpo National University

He continued, “For the past three years, we have been meticulously preparing plans that would allow for the actual establishment and operation of a medical school, including curriculum, educational facilities, plans to secure faculty, and clinical education systems. Even while competing against Suncheon National University, we actively cooperated with the former policy stance of Jeollanam-do Province and the policies and procedures of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Unified Metropolitan City, all under the greater purpose of establishing a new national medical school in Jeonnam.”

Despite these efforts, President Song raised serious concerns about not being selected as a candidate university, especially regarding the fairness of the evaluation process.

He pointed out that the difference in final scores between the two universities was only 1.3 points, and criticized the process by saying, “It is unacceptable that evaluators, whose qualifications were not even verified, were convened for a very short period of time without adequate explanation or sufficient scrutiny of each proposal.” He noted that, separate from the acceptance of the results, there were critical flaws in the evaluation procedure itself.

Beyond the issue of simple competition, he also brought attention to the problem of regional medical inequality. President Song stated, “For how long must the residents of western Jeonnam endure inequality in life and health simply because of where they live?” He emphasized, “We must break the vicious cycle where regions with small populations or lacking in medical infrastructure fall behind in the competition for medical school establishment, only to remain medically underserved areas.”

Accordingly, President Song called on the government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Unified Metropolitan City to establish concrete measures to build essential and critical care systems that would fill the medical gap left in western Jeonnam after its exclusion from the list of candidate universities.

He concluded by stating, “Although I am stepping down as president, I will not give up my role in supporting National Mokpo University and the western Jeonnam region,” expressing his intention to continue contributing in any capacity he can.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.