Military hospital head decries state of medical affairs in Korea

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Military hospital head decries state of medical affairs in Korea

Published: 15 Apr. 2025, 17:50

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Director Lee Cook-jong of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital speaks during a joint emergency patient helicopter transport training exercise held at the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital in Daejeon on Oct. 25, 2024. [YONHAP]

Lee Cook-jong, the trauma specialist who served as the inspiration behind the hit Netflix series “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call,” delivered scathing criticism of Korea’s medical community, military organizations and health care system during a recent lecture for military doctors.

Lee, currently head of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital and former director of the regional trauma center at Ajou University Hospital, said “I have nothing to say to my juniors because I feel sorry for them,” during a lecture which took place on Monday in Goesan, North Chungcheong, according to accounts posted online by the attendees.

During the lecture, Lee told the attendees that he came to deliver the lecture as “the principal of the hospital asked me, and since I receive my salary from the Ministry of National Defense, I accepted.”

Lee’s comments quickly spread across social media and online communities under the titles such as “Summary of Lee Cook-jong’s lecture to military doctors.”

In the lecture, Lee sharply criticized Korea’s medical establishment, likening the country’s history of foreign invasions — such as during the Japanese invasions of the 16th century and the Manchu invasions of the 17th century — to the present-day dominance of nonmedical bureaucrats over health care.

Korea is “a country ruled by talkative scholars who only know how to blab,” said Lee. “This DNA of the peninsula has been passed down for thousands of years, and it won’t change. If you don’t like the temple, then leave the monastery, the saying goes. Leave Korea.”

Rescue and medical team members, including Director Lee Cook-jong, center right, of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital, move to a naval aircraft capable of transporting personnel to evacuate seriously injured people during a joint medical support training drill as part of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in Pohang on March 12. [NEWS1]

“If you don’t want to be harassed by the old guard at Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, or by government officials, don’t go into vital departments [critical care specialties],” Lee proclaimed. “Never live like I did. All that comes back is a notice of dismissal.”

He lamented that despite dedicating his life to trauma surgery, “nothing has changed” and said his life had been “ruined.”

Lee also shared examples of colleagues who left the field, including the late doctor Yoon Han-deok, who died of overwork.

“I worked my whole life, but nothing has changed,” Lee repeated. “Yoon, who worked with me, died from overwork. Don’t be like him.”

Director Lee Cook-jong of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital pays his respects to late Dr. Yoon Han-deok, who died from overwork, at the funeral home at National Medical Center in Jung District, central Seoul, on Feb. 10, 2019. [YONHAP]

Lee also revealed that a military doctor at the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital recently passed the first stage of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).

“I converted a basement storage room in the hospital into a study room, and a psychiatrist passed the first test of the USMLE there,” Lee said. “I was so proud that I even put up a banner. There’s no hope in Korea — escape Korea.”

Lee also touched on the ongoing conflict between the government and medical community.

“Professors are middlemen exploiting others,” Lee said. “Honestly, I thought the returning residents and interns would have fought each other and left half of them dead, but everyone seems too nice. Seeing them just tease each other as gamgyul [a derogatory term for returning residents] is kind of cute.”

Director Lee Cook-jong of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital, and members of his medical team head to the emergency room of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital in Daejeon, where soldiers were transferred after an explosion occurred during a grenade throwing training exercise at the 32nd Infantry Division of the Army on March 21, 2024. [KIM SUNG-TAE]

Lee has repeatedly criticized the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions, arguing it won’t solve the fundamental problem of doctors avoiding essential specialties.

In a lecture last June at the National Science Museum in Daejeon, Lee said “The medical community is like a beehive that’s been struck,” adding “there will soon be no specialists because they are no longer being trained.”

He argued that drastically increasing medical school admissions “cannot be a fundamental solution to the shortage of doctors in essential fields.”

“Even after medical school, it takes over 10 years to become a specialist, and even after completing training, few doctors actually work in the field they trained in,” Lee added. “The priority is not to expand medical school seats, but to create a system that can revive essential health care.”

“We need to address chronic issues like low medical fees that don’t even cover costs and the burden of unavoidable malpractice lawsuits so that doctors can work in their trained specialties,” he said.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]