THOUSANDS of striking junior doctors in South Korea faced legal action and suspension of their medical licences today as the government launched a crackdown.

Authorities have started police investigations into the leaders of the walkouts, which have disrupted hospital operations.

Nearly 9,000 of South Korea's 13,000 junior doctors have refused to work for the last two weeks in protest at a government plan to enrol thousands more students in the country’s medical schools in the coming years. 

The government has ordered them to return to work by February 29, citing a threat to public health, but most have defied threats of licence suspensions and prosecutions.

Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said: “For those who lead the walkouts, we are thinking we’ll file complaints with police.

“But I tell you that we haven’t determined exactly when we would do so and against whom.”

On Monday, the Health Ministry sent officials to hospitals to confirm the absences of the striking doctors in preparation for administrative action to suspend their licences. 

So far, the government has formally confirmed the absences of more than 7,000 strikers.

Mr Park said the striking doctors’ licences would be suspended for at least three months, but doctors would be given opportunities to respond before any suspensions took effect.

“The trainee doctors have left their patients defenceless. They’ve even left emergency rooms and intensive care units,” Mr Park said. 

“We can't tolerate these irresponsible acts.”

At the heart of the dispute is a government plan to raise the medical school enrolment quota by 2,000, starting from next year, from the current 3,058. 

Officials said that South Korea needed more doctors because the number of elderly people is increasing rapidly. 

However, many doctors say that universities aren’t ready for such a sudden increase in student numbers.