[Anchor]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has notified the daughter of former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung that it is canceling her hiring process following allegations of preferential treatment, SBS has learned. The ministry determined that Ms. Shim did not meet the initial eligibility requirements and has requested disciplinary action against three employees who were in charge of the recruitment process at the time.

Reporter Kim Hye-young has the exclusive report.

[Reporter]

Ms. Shim, the daughter of former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, was hired as a contract researcher at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, which falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in March 2024.

After working for about eight months, she applied for a permanent contract researcher position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February 2025, a role for which only one person was being hired. She passed the document screening, written exam, and interview.

However, allegations of preferential treatment were raised in the National Assembly at the time.

[Han Jeoung-ae / Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker (March 24, 2025): There was a case where someone was hired by the Korea National Diplomatic Academy despite not meeting the qualification requirements. It is Shim OO, the daughter of Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung.]

The requirement for the Korea National Diplomatic Academy researcher position was a master's degree, but Ms. Shim was only a master's degree candidate expected to graduate at the time.

The eligibility criteria for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs researcher position were also advertised as a master's degree holder with at least two years of practical work experience, and it was alleged that Ms. Shim did not meet these requirements.

[Han Jeoung-ae / Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker (March 24, 2025): Someone with only eight months of experience, which is insufficient, should not have even been eligible for the document screening process.]

In April 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was suspending the hiring process for Ms. Shim, who was then a candidate for the position.

About a year later, the ministry has now officially canceled the hiring plan for Ms. Shim.

Multiple officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told SBS, "We notified Ms. Shim on May 29 that her selection as a candidate for hiring has been canceled because she did not meet the eligibility requirements."

They added, "We sent the notification via email because she did not answer our calls, and there has been no particular response."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that an internal audit revealed that the three employees in charge of the hiring at the time had incorrectly counted Ms. Shim's previous work as a teaching assistant and research assistant—activities performed before she obtained her master's degree—as practical work experience.

While the ministry could not determine whether the hiring staff acted with intentional malice, it concluded that they were guilty of gross negligence and has requested that the Central Disciplinary Committee deliberate on disciplinary actions against them.

(Video reporting: Jo Chun-dong, Video editing: Choi Jin-hwa)