South Korea opens hotline to support doctors defying walkout

South Korea's government opened a hotline for doctors on Tuesday that the health minister said was intended to support physicians who faced harassment or peer pressure if they chose not to join a mass walkout over healthcare reform plans.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong defended the reforms, which include boosting the number of medical school students, as beneficial for the work conditions of intern and resident doctors, a key demand of the nearly 12,000 trainees who have left their posts. The move comes amid little sign of an end to the three-week walkout and as some medical professors also threatened to join the protest by tendering their resignations.