Plan for joint Jeonnam-Gwangju medical school in jeopardy as Suncheon National University rejects compromise

A long-sought plan to establish a national medical school in the Jeonnam-Gwangju region is at risk of collapse after Suncheon National University rejected a compromise brokered by Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City Mayor Min Hyeong-bae. The dispute between Mokpo National University and Suncheon National University over the location of the medical school headquarters and teaching hospital has dragged on, and with the rejection, both the medical school project and the planned merger of the two universities may have to be reconsidered from scratch.

According to the special city and both universities on Monday, Mokpo National University agreed to a medical school and teaching hospital establishment plan designed by Mayor Min's transition committee, while Suncheon National University declined.

Mayor Min had earlier called on both universities to respond by 11 p.m. Monday on whether they accepted the compromise proposal.

If the two universities do not submit a merger application to the Ministry of Education by Monday, procedural constraints will make it effectively impossible to recruit a combined freshman class next year — a deadline that would then be missed.

Mayor Min's transition committee recently proposed placing the merged university's headquarters, the medical school and basic medical sciences in Mokpo, while building a 500-bed teaching hospital in Suncheon first, with plans to later establish an additional teaching hospital in Mokpo by acquiring and expanding existing medical facilities there.

The proposal also called for concentrating the medical school's headquarters and basic medical science programs on one campus while assigning clinical and theoretical practicum education to the other.

Mokpo National University said it would accept the transition committee's proposal for establishing the South Jeolla medical school without conditions, citing the need not to miss the critical window for advancing what it described as a key national policy goal of President Lee Jae-myung's administration.

Mokpo National University President Song Ha-cheol said that if Suncheon National University accepts the transition committee's proposal, "Mokpo National University will devote every effort to establishing a higher-level medical care system for residents of both the eastern and western regions." Song added that the university plans to work closely with Mayor Min, Mokpo Mayor Kang Seong-hwi, local government heads in the southwestern region, residents and the local medical community to swiftly advance the establishment of a teaching hospital in the Mokpo area.

Suncheon National University, by contrast, decided Monday to reject the proposal after holding a faculty council meeting and a briefing for university members.

In a statement issued in the name of "all university members," Suncheon National University said it had broadly gathered opinions from faculty, staff, student and alumni bodies as well as the local medical community and civic groups since July 2. "We cannot accept a biased proposal that places the merged university's headquarters, the medical school and even the teaching hospital in Mokpo, while Suncheon receives only a teaching hospital as a first step," the statement said.

The university warned that under such an arrangement, "Mokpo would become a self-contained medical and educational hub on par with a flagship national university, while Suncheon would be left with only a teaching hospital without a medical school and a national university reduced to a satellite campus with its headquarters in Mokpo."

Suncheon National University called on the special city to make a forward-looking decision to resolve the east-west regional divide and promote balanced development, demanding that the merged university's headquarters and medical school be placed in Suncheon, with teaching hospitals established in phases.