SEOUL: A South Korean doctor has been arrested for allegedly creating and distributing a “blacklist” of colleagues who are not participating in an ongoing strike against medical education reforms, media and a doctors’ organization reported Saturday (Sept. 21).
The case marks the first arrest of a trainee doctor in more than six months. Conflict between government and young doctors about the prolonged work stoppage that resulted in the deaths of some emergency room patients.
The doctor was arrested Friday for allegedly creating a list with the names and personal information of colleagues who had returned to work or abandoned the strike, and then repeatedly distributing it with malicious intent via apps like Telegram, according to Yonhap news agency.
The head of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the top body of South Korea’s doctors, met with the detained intern at a Seoul police station on Saturday, later saying the government was responsible for the situation.
“I believe all those on the blacklist, as well as the arrested intern doctor, are victims,” KMA chief Lim Hyun-taek told reporters.
The intern was arrested on harassment charges, with authorities determining he harassed victims by sharing their information — such as phone numbers and alma maters — without their consent, according to Yonhap and other local reports.