The Ministry of Employment and Labor on Thursday refuted claims that the government's back-to-work order for striking trainee doctors violates the International Labour Organization's (ILO) convention against forced labor. The ministry expressed the stance a day after the Korean Intern and Resident Association said that it has sent a letter to the ILO, requesting intervention in the South Korean government's back-to-work order which, it said, was in violation of the Forced Labor Convention. Over 90 percent of intern and resident doctors nationwide have submitted resignations en masse and stayed off their duties since late last month in protest against the government plan to hike medical school enrollment by 2,000 seats starting next year. In response, the government has issued back-to-order orders and initiated administrative procedures to revoke the medical license of trainee doctors who defy the order. On Thursday, the labor ministry defended the legitimacy of the return-to-duty order, saying it falls ou tside the scope of the ILO convention on forced labor. "Suspending health care services constitutes an act that seriously threatens public survival and well-being, and the government's back-to-work order was a just decision to safeguard the public's health and lives," the ministry said in a statement. The Forced Labor Convention, one of the eight ILO fundamental conventions, defines compulsory labor as all work exacted involuntarily or under the menace of any penalty. However, the convention excludes any work exacted under circumstances endangering the existence or well-being of the whole or part of the population from constituting forced labor. The ministry concluded that the government's back-to-work order falls into the cases recognized by the ILO convention as not constituting forced labor. Once the ILO requests a follow-up reaction from the South Korean government regarding the trainee doctors' intervention request, the government will proactively defend its action as a legitimate response by present ing background facts on the situation, the ministry said. Source: Yonhap News Agency
