A lawsuit filed by medical students seeking to cancel the government's decision to revoke a planned increase of 2,000 medical school admissions has been dismissed once again.
The Administrative Division 3 of the Seoul Administrative Court, led by Chief Judge Ho Seong-ho, dismissed the lawsuit on September 18, brought by 4,058 students from 40 medical schools and graduate schools against the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education. A dismissal occurs when a court ends a case without a hearing due to failure to meet legal requirements.
This ruling marks the conclusion of a series of lawsuits initiated by over 13,000 medical students in response to the government's enrollment increase policy. The previous two lawsuits were also dismissed for the same reasons. As a result, all administrative lawsuits filed by medical students opposing the government's enrollment increase plan have been resolved with the court's dismissal.
The plaintiffs began their collective lawsuit in April 2024, protesting the government's announcement in February of that year regarding the increase of 2,000 medical school admissions and the allocation of seats among universities. However, the court determined that the government's announcement was merely a statement of the Minister of Health and Welfare's consultation with the Minister of Education and did not constitute an independent administrative action subject to appeal.
Furthermore, the court clarified that there was no legal benefit to be gained from the lawsuit. The allocation of admissions for the 2025 and 2026 academic years had already lost its effect due to the execution of the decision, and the enrollment numbers for the 2027 to 2031 academic years would be newly allocated by each university, effectively nullifying the previous increase allocation.
The court concluded that the change in policy had resolved any infringement on the rights or interests of the plaintiffs, and even if the previous decision were canceled, it could not revert to the state prior to the decision, thus there was no benefit in seeking cancellation.
However, the medical students argued that the Board of Audit and Inspection had pointed out procedural issues in the enrollment increase process, claiming that the legality should be examined. The court, however, did not accept this argument, stating that there was no concern of similar issues arising in the future.
Earlier, two lawsuits ruled in June were also dismissed for the same reasons, and the plaintiffs withdrew their appeals, finalizing the ruling in July. Additionally, a cancellation lawsuit filed by the faculty council of 33 medical schools has also been dismissed.
Meanwhile, the medical school enrollment policy has been revised, with a new plan confirmed to select 3,548 students for the 2027 academic year, an increase of 490 from the 3,058 admissions in 2024.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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