Eight Cities and Counties in Southwestern Jeonnam Urge Immediate Rejection of National Medical School Recommendation Proposal

Joint Press Conference Held at Muan Office of the Integrated Metropolitan Council on September 9
Concerns Raised Over Eligibility of Sites and Fairness in Evaluation Committee Formation

The heads of eight cities and counties in the southwestern region of Jeonnam, including Mokpo, Haenam, Yeongam, Muan, Hampyeong, Wando, Jindo, and Shinan, have taken joint action, alleging illegality and unfairness in the procedure to recommend candidate universities for the National Medical School in Jeonnam.

On September 9, mayors and county governors from the southwestern region held a press conference in the briefing room at the Muan office of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan Council, calling on the Ministry of Education to completely review and immediately reject the current recommendation proposal for candidate universities.

On the 9th, market leaders and county heads from the southwestern region of Jeonnam gathered together, where Kim Taesung, County Governor of Shinan, explained the poor island medical system. Photo by Seunghyun Jung

They raised issues with the review process conducted by the Jeonnam Research Institute, the designated review agency, specifically: ▲ evaluating universities that own land meeting legal requirements and those that do not on equal terms; ▲ regarding rent-free land for which the possibility of constructing new buildings is uncertain as eligible; ▲ excluding from assessment the key indicator of “the necessity to establish a new medical school within the region”; and ▲ a lack of expertise, fairness, and objectivity in the composition of the evaluation committee.

In particular, the local leaders argued that despite ownership requirements for campuses and facilities being critical under regulations on university establishment and operation, the distinction between Mokpo National University, which has secured land for the new medical school, and Suncheon National University, which submitted a plan to lease city-owned land without charge, was not made clear.

They also emphasized that although Suncheon National University listed in its application that it had secured a site for the new medical school, in reality, it only submitted an agreement for the free lease of Suncheon city-owned land. They stressed that eligibility should be re-verified based on the materials actually submitted at the time of review.

The local leaders further criticized the Integrated Metropolitan City authorities for indicating that missing land requirements could be supplemented in the future after the review, stating that allowing unresolved site issues to be corrected retroactively undermines the fairness of the evaluation process.

The southwestern region’s leaders called on the Ministry of Education to immediately reject the recommendation of Suncheon National University as a candidate university, and to re-examine the entire review process. They urged the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City to disclose all evaluation materials and supporting documents related to candidate university selection and to take responsible action.

They declared, “Rectifying this wrongful recommendation is the minimum duty owed to residents in the southwestern region who have endured medical neglect for 36 years,” and added, “To protect the right to life and health of the 600,000 residents in the region, all eight cities and counties will stand together in united response to the end.”

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