The Democratic Party of Korea raised allegations on the 3rd regarding preferential treatment for the daughter of Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung in her employment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Rep. Han Jeong-ae, the Director General of the investigation team into the hiring irregularities involving the children of the Prosecutor General, appeared on MBC Radio that morning and claimed that Director General Park Jang-ho of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' information planning bureau was involved in the preferential hiring of Prosecutor General Shim's daughter.
Han said, "In the first announcement for (Ministry of Foreign Affairs researchers), Director General Park conducted interviews for candidates in the economic field, and the candidate was disqualified for an inexplicable reason that he was not fluent in Korean," and added, "In the second announcement, the requirements for application changed to match the major that Prosecutor General Shim's daughter had, which was international cooperation."
He pointed out, "Personnel management related to hiring should be done by the Personnel Planning Office, but it is strange that the hiring for the children of Prosecutor General Shim was carried out by the Foreign Affairs Information Planning Bureau's Foreign Affairs Information Division."
Rep. Park Hong-bae of the same party, who is also part of the investigation team, claimed during a policy coordination meeting held that morning at the Gwanghwamun tent office that "Prosecutor General Shim's daughter, who did not meet the qualifications in terms of degree, experience, or major, passed the contract researcher position at the National Diplomatic Academy early last year and worked for 8 months. The almost magical success of Prosecutor General Shim's daughter also occurred during the hiring for public research positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February."
He added, "The reason such magic could happen to Shim is inexplicable, except for the 'dad chance' from her father, who is a former Vice Minister of Justice and current Prosecutor General, and it is highly likely that Director General Park, who worked in the presidential office's foreign affairs office, is the person who provided employment preferential treatment to Prosecutor General Shim's daughter."