Public servants or privileged elites? -Analyzing physician strikes in the Republic of Korea

The 2024 mass physician strike in Korea highlights a fundamental tension within modern healthcare systems. As a health system operating a hybrid model where health financing and health service organizing are divided into public and private domains, respectively, the Korean health system’s conflicts warrant a close analysis to expand our knowledge of health systems. Viewing the event through dialectical materialist perspective, this essay explains that the 2024 strike represents the culmination of irreconcilable contradictions embedded within Korea's healthcare system and the physician profession. The essay offers three considerations for successful reforms: 1) recognizing the fundamental conflict between viewing healthcare as a commodity versus a public good 2) recognizing and contend with the dynamics of class struggle between physicians, other health professionals, and the public, and 3) recognizing the exploitative labor environment that fuels internal contradictions within the profession. • Dialectical analysis reveals interlocking contradictions in Korean healthcare • 2024 strike shows physician class power and professional ideology conflicts with public needs • Future reforms must focus mitigating these conflicts based on strong governance