Striking interns and resident doctors will return to work Monday, a representative of an association of junior doctors said in a social media broadcast Sunday.

The indefinte strike among doctors in training at general hospitals -- which had a participation rate of over 75 percent -- lasted for about two weeks. 

The announcement to comes two days after the primary care physicians’ strike -- with a much lower rate of participation of less than 10 percent -- was declared over Friday. 

In the Friday meeting with the Korean Medical Association, the ruling Democratic Party and the Ministry of Health and Welfare agreed to stall the dispute until after the pandemic subsides.

Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, in reaching the deal with doctors, said Friday that the ministry “welcomes the doctors’ decision” and would “coordinate closely with the medical community” to tackle the novel coronavirus crisis.

Over the roughly two weeks the strike persisted, the Health Ministry and top government figures, including the prime minister, blasted it as “a threat to lives of countless Koreans” and a “hurdle for COVID-19 control.”

In the last week of August, the ministry filed criminal charges against at least 10 of the junior doctors and also reported the KMA to a state regulatory body. After the strikes were canceled, the ministry said it would “work to resolve the standing complaints against doctors amicably.”

During the livestreamed broadcast, the junior doctors’ representative said the strike will be “put on hold” until further notice. “Considering the circumstances, we belive continuing the strike is unrealistic at this stage,” she said.

The young doctors have gone on a strike to protest a set of health care reform bills announced in July by the Democratic Party and the Cabinet. 

The highly contested bills involve reforming the way the country recruits and deploys its health care workforce and expanding state health insurance to cover traditional herbal remedies.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)