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.