South Korea takes steps to suspend licenses of striking doctors after they refuse to end walkouts

South Korea’s government has begun steps to suspend the medical licenses of thousands of striking junior doctors, days after they missed a government-set deadline to end their joint walkouts, which have disrupted hospital operations. Nearly 9,000 medical interns and residents have been on strike for two weeks to protest a government push to sharply increase the number of medical school admissions. The Health Ministry says officials were sent to dozens of hospitals on Monday to formally confirm the absence of the striking doctors. It says authorities will later notify the striking doctors of their expected license suspensions and give them a chance to respond.