South Korea’s president meets leader of striking doctors as he seeks to end their walkouts

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president has met the leader of thousands of striking junior doctors and promised to respect their position during future talks over the government’s contentious push to sharply increase medical school admissions. The meeting Thursday between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Park Dan, head of an emergency committee for the Korea Intern Resident Association,  is the first of its kind since more than 90% of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors walked off the job in February, disrupting hospital operations. Yoon’s office didn’t say whether the president’s comments would mean he is willing to lower the size of his proposed medical school admission increase.