"Medical School Cannot Be Established on City-Owned Land"... Suncheon National University Medical School Faces Legal Barriers

Clash of Three Acts: Legal Experts Advise "Impossible Under Current Law"

Plan Submitted Two Days After Screening Spurs Favoritism Concerns

At Least Seven Years to Build a Hospital: Medical School Accreditation in Crisis

On September 4, just five days after Suncheon National University was selected as a candidate for a national medical school in the Jeonnam-Gwangju region, the controversy has intensified. In addition to legal feasibility issues regarding site acquisition, allegations of lack of fairness and expertise in the screening process have also emerged.

Following a legal interpretation that establishing a medical school on city-owned land is not permissible, strong concerns have also been raised in political circles regarding the composition of evaluation panels and the screening methodology.

Logos of Suncheon National University (left) and Mokpo National University (right)

Legal Barriers to City-Owned Land Transfer: Clash of Three Acts

The core issue has become the adequacy of the site verification during the evaluation process. According to the office of Assemblywoman Seo Mihwa, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, it has been found that there were no land or legal experts among the eight committee members tasked with screening the candidate universities for the new national medical school. The eight members consisted of seven experts in the medical field, such as doctors, and one expert in finance.

There are concerns that the review failed to include a specialist capable of thoroughly verifying a key scoring criterion—the site acquisition (worth five points)—which is entangled with legal and practical complexities. Assemblywoman Seo criticized the process, stating, "Whether the review was fair and objective must be examined," and described it as a "sloppy, careless, and unfair review."

The difference in the site conditions of the submitted establishment plans by the two universities has also attracted attention. Mokpo National University proposed 165,000 square meters of state-owned land, already owned by the university, to meet the 2030 opening schedule.

In contrast, the 165,000 square meters in Jorye-dong, Suncheon City, proposed by Suncheon National University, is city-owned land. At the time of the application, the university did not own the land; rather, it had a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and a conditional letter of commitment with Suncheon City and the city council, which fell short of actual ownership. According to the Ministry of Education’s criteria, national medical school sites must be state-owned property, but at the time of the screening, Suncheon National University’s site did not meet this requirement.

Questions have also been raised about the supplementary actions taken after the evaluation. Suncheon City Mayor Son Hunmo reportedly hurriedly submitted a plan for the transfer of site ownership to Suncheon National University just two days after the evaluation concluded. This has fueled debate over whether the evaluation was fair in allowing post-review supplementation for a site that was not originally secured, and whether the minimal point difference of just 1.3 points between the finalists indicates an unfair outcome.

According to the legal community, a panel of four legal experts, including a special city advisory attorney (three from law firms and one individual lawyer), has concluded that, under the current legal framework, it is not possible to establish medical school facilities for Suncheon National University on city-owned land in Suncheon.

The legal community highlighted three main laws as a basis. First, the "Regulations on the Establishment and Operation of Universities" (Articles 2 and 9) explicitly state that the campus grounds for a national university must, in principle, be state-owned property. Thus, establishing a national medical school for Suncheon National University on city-owned land contravenes current regulations.

Additionally, the “Public Property and Goods Management Act” (Article 13) strictly restricts the construction of permanent structures, such as buildings, on public property owned by local governments. Even if Suncheon City intends to provide the land on the condition of transferring ownership, there are fundamental legal limitations to constructing a permanent building such as a medical school on site under current law.

Furthermore, the interpretation of Article 10 of the "Public Healthcare Act" presents another hurdle. The consensus among legal experts is that while the law allows the exceptional establishment of “university hospitals” for public healthcare purposes on state or public land, it still imposes restrictions on establishing educational institutions such as “medical schools” themselves.

Considering the conflicts among these three acts, the prevailing view is that, without amendments to the existing laws or the enactment of special legislation, transferring the site’s ownership and establishing a medical school are virtually impossible under current legal provisions. Notably, this legal obstacle previously led to Suncheon’s withdrawal from the competition for selection two years ago during former Mayor Noh Gwan-kyu’s tenure, further fueling the debate.

"At Least Seven Years to Build a Hospital": Hurdles for Medical School Accreditation and Clinical Faculty Recruitment

Aside from the site issue, both the hospital construction schedule and the accreditation process for the medical school present practical challenges. According to the education sector of the southwestern region, construction at a national university can only begin after securing both the necessary budget and confirmed land ownership. Given that constructing a hospital alone takes at least seven years, there are concerns that timely accreditation for the medical school—which requires hands-on clinical education—will be difficult to obtain.

University officials point out that it is impossible to recruit clinical faculty who can also see patients without an affiliated hospital, making it practically impossible to fulfill clinical education accreditation requirements and thereby provide adequate clinical training.

Currently, both Suncheon National University and the Ministry of Education are withholding official positions regarding the evaluation criteria and legal issues, adopting a cautious stance. However, as the final approval process by the Ministry of Education is still pending, there is growing pressure to reexamine both the legal feasibility of the site ownership transfer and the transparency of the evaluation process.

Given that the medical welfare of 3.2 million residents in the Jeonnam-Gwangju region is at stake, the main issues now include: clarifying legal solutions for the transfer of site ownership under current laws; disclosing the composition of the evaluation committee and the scoring standards for the site acquisition (5 points); and providing evidence of the feasibility of the hospital construction and clinical education schedules.

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