In South Korea, a Doctors' Strike Could Play in Yoon's Favor Ahead of Legislative Elections

In South Korea, growing frustration with an ongoing doctors' strike could bode well for President Yoon Suk-yeol's conservative party in April legislative elections, which may embolden his government to curb the power of unions at home, ramp up its deterrence strategy against North Korea, and even send weapons to Ukraine. As of March 1, around 9,000 trainee doctors in South Korea were still on strike despite warnings by the health ministry that they could be indicted or lose their certification if they didn't return to work by Feb. 29. In response to the Feb. 29 deadline passing, the ministry posted on its website a back-to-work mandate for 13 trainee doctors from 12 top medical institutions as a last step (akin to serving a legal notice) before punishment. For the past 10 days, thousands of South Korean doctors have been on strike to protest a government plan to increase the annual...