The Busan Medical Association has recommended Lee Kuk-jong, the director of the National Defense Medical Center, as a candidate for Minister of Health and Welfare.
On the 11th, the Busan Medical Association stated that it submitted a ‘recommendation letter for the Minister of Health and Welfare from the Busan Medical Association’ to the Ministry of Personnel Management, which recommends this hospital director as a candidate for Minister of Health and Welfare. The Lee Jae-myung government is in a situation where it is to receive recommendations from the public for high-level appointments, including candidates for Ministers and Vice Ministers, by the 16th.
The Busan Medical Association stated in the letter, “At this point in 2025, we would like to recommend Professor Lee Kuk-jong as a candidate for Minister of Health and Welfare, who can normalize the severely damaged medical system and medical education in Korea and solve the essential medical and local medical issues that the entire world is experiencing.”
It continued, “As a citizen of Korea, anyone must know well what kind of life Professor Lee Kuk-jong, known as the 'hero of the Aden Gulf,' has lived as a medical professional,” and noted, “He has shown outstanding expertise and dedication as a professor of trauma surgery at the forefront of medical care and has worked with a unique sense of responsibility and mission for the country and the citizens as a soldier.” The Busan Medical Association also noted in the recommendation letter that this hospital director has worked to establish a severe trauma center and reform the emergency medical system.
This hospital director is evaluated as a figure who contributed to the improvement of the national emergency medical system, including the introduction of doctor helicopters, serving as a professor of trauma surgery at Ajou University Hospital and the head of the Regional Trauma Center.