Mayors from eight cities and counties in South Jeolla Province are calling for a complete review and rejection of the proposal for a new national medical university in Jeonnam, citing illegal and unfair evaluation processes.
On September 9, at 10:30 a.m., the mayors held a joint press conference in the briefing room of the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City Council, where they released a statement urging a thorough reassessment of the proposal.
The mayors claimed that the evaluation process conducted by the Jeonnam Research Institute, which was responsible for assessing the proposal submitted to the Ministry of Education on August 30, had significant issues regarding site acquisition, faculty recruitment plans, evaluation criteria, and the composition of the review committee.
They first raised concerns about the site acquisition for the medical school. While Mokpo University owns land for the establishment of a medical school, they noted that Suncheon University submitted a lease agreement for city-owned land without securing university-owned land.
They pointed out that evaluating proposals based on the assumption of post-hoc site acquisition undermines fairness, as the evaluation should be based on the plans submitted at the time of application.
Questions were also raised about the legality and feasibility of the free lease of city-owned land. They argued that, according to laws such as the "Management of Public Property and Goods Act," Suncheon University would need to acquire the land or exchange it for national land to establish a medical school.
The evaluation of faculty recruitment plans was also scrutinized. According to the joint statement, Mokpo University proposed a plan to secure 112 faculty members, while Suncheon University proposed 140. The mayors emphasized that the focus should be on the feasibility of actual recruitment and specific plans rather than just the number of faculty members.
They also highlighted the exclusion of evaluation criteria reflecting regional healthcare vulnerabilities. The mayors noted that 41% of the nation’s islands are concentrated in the South Jeolla region, and the mortality rate due to inability to reach advanced medical facilities within three hours is significantly higher than in the eastern region. They stressed that the need for a new medical school and healthcare accessibility should have been key evaluation factors.
Concerns were raised about fairness in evaluating local government support plans. They argued that while Mokpo's support plan was excluded from evaluation, Suncheon's free lease plan for city-owned land was considered in the "certainty of site acquisition" evaluation, indicating a lack of consistent criteria.
Issues regarding the professionalism and objectivity of the review committee composition were also raised. The mayors stated that while the Jeonnam Research Institute planned to balance experts from five areas, including architecture, education, and healthcare, of the eight appointed reviewers, seven were medical school professors, and one was a financial consultant, with no architecture expert included.
The mayors argued that establishing a medical school and university hospital requires expertise to verify the feasibility of project plans from design to construction and completion, and thus the appropriateness of the review committee's composition should be re-evaluated.
The mayors of the South Jeolla region urged the Ministry of Education to conduct a comprehensive review of the integrated special city’s medical university proposal and to reject it immediately. They called for the integrated special city to disclose all materials related to the selection and evaluation of the medical school and to terminate related procedures.
They added, "The 36-year aspiration of the residents of South Jeolla is not a matter of inter-regional competition but a matter of the right to life and health," and pledged to work together to protect the basic healthcare rights of over 600,000 residents in the region.
The joint statement included the names of the mayors from the eight cities and counties: Kang Seong-hwi of Mokpo, Myung Hyun-gwan of Haenam, Woo Seung-hee of Yeongam, Kim San of Muan, Lee Nam-o of Hampyeong, Kim Shin of Wando, Lee Jae-gak of Jindo, and Kim Tae-seong of Sinan.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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