THOUSANDS of senior doctors rallied in Seoul yesterday to express their support for junior doctors who have been on strike for nearly two weeks over a government plan to sharply increase the number of medical school admissions.

The rally came as the government said that it would begin to take steps on Monday to suspend the medical licences of nearly 9,000 medical interns and residents for defying government orders to end their walkouts, which have disrupted hospital operations.

“The government’s absurd medical policy has triggered immense resistance by trainee doctors and medical students, and we doctors have become one,” Park Sung Min, a senior member of the Korea Medical Association, said in a speech at the rally.

“I’m asking the government: please, stop the threats and suppression now.”

Protesters chanted slogans, sang and held placards criticising the government's plan.

As of Thursday night, 8,945 of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents were confirmed to have left their worksites, according to the Health Ministry. 

The government has repeatedly said that they would face minimum three-month licence suspensions and indictments by prosecutors if they did not return by February 29.

The government wants to increase South Korea’s medical school enrolment quota by 2,000 starting next year, from the current 3,058, to better deal with the country's rapidly ageing population.