Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, said she "welcomes it, though late" in connection with the cancellation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hiring of former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung's child. Han first raised the issue of special treatment in the hiring of the former prosecutor general's child last year.
On the 20th, through a statement, Han said she "expresses a welcome" regarding the cancellation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hiring of the former prosecutor general's child.
In March last year, at a full session of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Han first raised suspicions of hiring favoritism for the former prosecutor general's child. At the time, despite lacking the qualifications in 2024, the former prosecutor general's child applied for and was hired as a fixed-term researcher at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, and later suspicions arose that this experience was used as the basis to ultimately pass the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hiring for a government employee position.
According to Han's office, although the applicant did not meet the qualifications listed in the announcement at the time of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy recruitment, the applicant still passed, and multiple signs of hiring favoritism tailored to the former prosecutor general's child were found, including reannouncing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recruitment after changing the "eligibility requirements."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was reported to have notified the former prosecutor general's child of the cancellation of the hiring in May. This came nine months after the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) determined that the hiring process for the former prosecutor general's child violated the "Fair Hiring Procedure Act." In the meantime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is said to have maintained the status of "prospective hire" for the former prosecutor general's child, citing a petition for an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection and an internal investigation.
Han said, "Even though the Korea National Diplomatic Academy hiring was confirmed as an illegal hire according to the labor ministry's findings, it was highly inappropriate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to maintain the prospective hire status of the former prosecutor general's child for more than a year," adding, "If a particular person receives favoritism in the hiring process, the perception spreads across our society that things are not fair."
She continued, "We will take the lead in improving related laws and systems to prevent a recurrence of power-related hiring corruption like that involving the former prosecutor general's child," and added, "Through the National Assembly audit, we will also look into the entire process of the cancellation of the former prosecutor general's child's hiring."