City vows to focus administrative resources on securing final government approval, enrollment quota and university hospital

Suncheon Mayor Son Hun-mo performs a "three steps, one bow" ritual on Friday in hopes of bringing a medical school to Sunchon National University. [Suncheon City]
Suncheon Mayor Son Hun-mo performs a "three steps, one bow" ritual on Friday in hopes of bringing a medical school to Sunchon National University. [Suncheon City]

Suncheon welcomed the selection of Sunchon National University as the candidate institution for a new national medical school to be established in the South Jeolla-Gwangju integrated special city.

The South Jeolla-Gwangju integrated special city said Sunday it had commissioned the South Jeolla Research Institute to evaluate Mokpo National University and Sunchon National University as candidates for the new national medical school, and that it plans to submit Sunchon National University — its final selection — to the Ministry of Education.

In a press release issued that day, Suncheon city said the eastern South Jeolla region has long suffered from a shortage of advanced medical infrastructure — including tertiary hospitals — relative to its population and healthcare needs, forcing emergency and critically ill patients to travel to other regions or the greater Seoul area. "The selection as the recommended candidate institution for a national medical school is a meaningful outcome that fulfills a long-held wish of residents in the eastern region," the city said.

A Suncheon city official said the city plans to build close cooperative ties with local political circles and the university, and to concentrate all administrative resources to ensure the process moves forward without a hitch — from securing final government approval and an enrollment quota to establishing the hospital and medical infrastructure needed for the Sunchon National University medical school.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education plans to finalize accreditation and enrollment size for medical schools in South Jeolla Province — where Sunchon National University is the candidate — and in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, where Gyeonguk University has been put forward, as neither province currently has a medical school.


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