The ‘Korean’ Resolution of the Doctorless Village Crisis and the Entanglement with the Conscription System in South Korea in the 1950s-70s

• Published in: Daehan yisa haghoeji 2023-12, Vol.32 (3), p.1043-1073
• Main Author: SHIN, Changhoon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: conscription system; doctorless village; military doctor; public health center in korea; public health doctor in korea; public physician in korea; republic of korea army
• ISSN: 1225-505X; 2093-5609
• DOI: 10.13081/kjmh.2023.32.1043

This article reviews how the crisis of doctorless villages in South Korea in the 1950s-70s was closely linked to the conscription system. In the second half of the twentieth century, South Korea’s public health system faced a dual challenge: the colonial legacy of medical shortage and urban concentration, and the massive conscription of military doctors after the Korean War. The term ‘doctorless village’ was a signifier that reflected these historical contexts, symbolizing the chronic medical crisis in rural areas. Behind the crisis, there as a growing idea of reversing the constraints from conscription and using it as a solution for the doctorless village problem. Initially, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs planned two alternatives to fill the gaps in the public health network. One was to station military doctors in doctorless villages, and the other was to dispatch civilian doctors in doctorless villages and exempt them from military service. After a series of doctor mobilizations since the May 16 coup, the medical community generally agreed with this plan and publicized it. They developed arguments for alternative services through public health work and strengthened its logic. By the 1970s, the plan culminated in the establishment of the current Public Health Doctor system. In terms of condition and momentum, the introduction of alternative service in other sectors, as well as the extension of the consensus among the government and medical community, accelerated this trend. As a result, the doctorless village crisis in South Korea, which had been a critical issue for a quarter of a century, entered a phase of resolution by utilizing the conscription system as its institutional foundation. It represented an aspect of the ‘Korean’ public health system characterized by the entanglement with conscription. However, another aspect to consider is that it has imposed additional limitation on medical care in rural areas by institutionalizing the public health system relying on mobilization and minimum budget.