‘Unfair MOFA Hiring’ Canceled, Then Reopened and Completed: Will MOFA Employees Who Conducted the Screening Face Disciplinary Action?

[Financial News] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) belatedly disclosed that it had completed a new hiring process after canceling the unfair hiring of a high-ranking public official’s child.
On the 11th, MOFA announced that it had completed the rehiring process for positions left vacant after the selection of employees hired unfairly in 2025 was canceled. MOFA said the final candidates were hired on the 3rd and are currently working.
From June to July this year, MOFA reran the document screening, written examination, and interview stages for applicants from the 2025 recruitment process, applying the hiring criteria in effect at the time. It then selected the final candidates after the Hiring Review Committee examined whether each stage had been conducted fairly and transparently.
In March 2025, after the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea raised questions about the fairness of the hiring process for public-sector contract employees at MOFA’s Diplomatic Information Planning Bureau, MOFA suspended the hiring of the original successful candidates while investigative authorities conducted inquiries and external organizations verified the facts.
In April, the Diplomatic Information Planning Bureau convened a Hiring Review Committee composed of outside experts to examine the entire hiring process. The review subsequently confirmed that the eligibility requirements had been misapplied during the document-screening stage of the original recruitment process.
The Hiring Review Committee was convened pursuant to Article 23 of MOFA’s regulations on fair hiring for public-sector contract and fixed-term employees.
The review found that the requirement stated in the job posting—“a master’s degree holder with at least two years of practical experience in the relevant field”—had been applied to include work experience acquired before the applicant obtained the master’s degree.
Based on the review findings and an additional deliberation by the Hiring Deliberation Subcommittee, MOFA decided to cancel the original successful candidates’ selections. It notified the candidates of the decision on May 29, more than a year and two months after the issue was raised in the National Assembly.
In March 2025, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea and others raised allegations of preferential treatment involving Ms. Shim, the daughter of a high-ranking legal official. Although she allegedly failed to meet the experience and eligibility requirements, she passed the document and interview stages and was ultimately selected as a public-sector contract research employee in MOFA’s Diplomatic Information Planning Bureau, Diplomatic Information Division 1.
The job posting specified that applicants must hold a master’s degree in international politics and have at least two years of practical experience in the field. However, Ms. Shim was criticized for failing to meet the requirement because her actual practical experience consisted of only eight months working at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA).
[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter