Korea Medical Association

The Korea Medical Association is a trade union in South Korea. It claims to represent about two-thirds of the country's doctors.

In June 2000, the Association organised an indefinite strike in protest of government health reforms.[1] On March 10, 2014 it organised a one-day strike in opposition to the government's plans to introduce telemedicine and against medical regulations they claimed infringed upon physicians' professional autonomy.[2] In August 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with its cases increasing in Korea, the Association organised a 3-day strike and its Korean Intern and Resident Association indefinite strike[3] in protest of government' plan to increase the number of doctors over the next decade[4][5] rejecting the government's return-to-work order.[6]

The Association publishes the Journal of the Korea Medical Association. Volume 60 was published in March 2017.[7]

A report by the Association's Research Institute for Healthcare Policy in 2022 found that 6,095 medical doctors were charged with professional negligence resulting in death or injury between 2011 and 2018 - far more than in other countries.[8]