Questions Emerging from Medical Education in the Aftermath of the 2024 Medical Conflict in Korea

The 2024 medical conflict in Korea, often summarized as a ‘medical crisis’, exposed not only the fragility of the healthcare delivery system, but also the vulnerable foundations of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. The abrupt withdrawal of residents and the prolonged disruption of clinical teaching did not merely create a temporary gap in the curriculum, it left a deep fissure in the development of an entire generation of physicians and medical professionals. As a clinician-educator in internal medicine, the author came to regard this crisis less as a political dispute and more as an invitation to revisit three fundamental questions about medical education: what we have been teaching, for whom we have been teaching, and how we can teach together. This article reflects on these three questions from the perspective of the educational field after the crisis and explores the internal limitations of current medical education, which centers on knowledge transmission, examination performance, and short-term workforce needs. Based on this reflection, three directions are proposed for rebuilding medical education after the crisis: healing students’ trauma and restoring a psychologically safe learning environment; restructuring curricula around core professional and civic competencies; and redefining educational governance through the stable participation of all stakeholders. Drawing on these proposals, this article argues that medical education in Korea should become a central arena for recovering public trust and re-articulating the social meaning of being a physician.