Another Class Action Lawsuit by Medical Students to Cancel Medical School Quota Hike Dismissed... "No Legal Benefit in Suit"

A lawsuit filed by medical students seeking to cancel the medical school admission quota hike implemented during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has been dismissed once again.

This marks the final case among three separate lawsuits filed by some 13,000 students from 40 medical schools and graduate medical schools nationwide, with the previous two cases reaching the same conclusion.

The 3rd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Ho Sung-ho) dismissed a lawsuit on the 18th filed by 4,058 medical students against the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education, seeking the cancellation of the admission quota increase disposition.

Medical students nationwide filed the lawsuit in April of that year, demanding the cancellation of the government's plan announced in February 2024 to increase medical school admission quotas by 2,000.

Previously, the court also handed down dismissal rulings in two other lawsuits delivered on the same day on June 25.

At the time, the court determined that the government's announcement of the medical school quota hike was merely a public release of matters discussed between the Minister of Education and the Minister of Health and Welfare, making it difficult to view it as an administrative disposition subject to a cancellation lawsuit.

The court also concluded that since the effects of the existing quota allocation dispositions had already expired, there was no practical legal benefit in filing a lawsuit to have them canceled.

Specifically, the court noted that the quota allocations for the 2025 and 2026 academic years had lost their effect due to the execution of the disposition, and that the quota allocation disposition had effectively been withdrawn for the 2027–2031 academic years as quotas were to be newly allocated for each university.

Consequently, the infringement on the rights or interests of the medical students was resolved, and even if the existing disposition were canceled, things could not be restored to the state prior to the disposition, meaning there was no legal interest in seeking cancellation through a lawsuit.

The medical students argued that because the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out procedural issues in the medical school quota expansion process, the same issues could recur, and therefore the legality should be examined. However, the court at the time rejected this, stating there was no risk of repetition.

Both rulings were finalized last July as the medical students withdrew their appeals.

Separately, a cancellation lawsuit filed with the same intent by the councils of professors from 33 medical schools nationwide was also dismissed in March of last year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.