South Korea’s foreign ministry violated regulations and granted special favors in hiring the daughter of the minister in charge of it, state auditors said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Saturday offered to quit after being accused of nepotism over the controversial hiring last week of his daughter for a mid-level post.
Officials said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak would accept the resignation.
Yu was the fourth official in a week to offer to resign over ethical questions, dealing yet another political blow to Lee.
“We confirmed that the foreign ministry knew in advance that Yu’s daughter had applied and violated rules to have her hired,” the South Korean home ministry said in a statement after a probe by its auditors.
The foreign ministry violated rules in forming a five-member interview panel, including two senior ministry officials and three outsiders, it said.
The two ministry officials gave Yu’s daughter near-perfect scores while three interviewers gave other applicants more points, it said, adding some foreign ministry officials made comments favoring the daughter during application reviews.
In a statement yesterday, Yu apologized again for causing trouble to his ministry and colleagues, his office said.
“Various pending diplomatic issues and heavy tasks are piled up before us,” he said, urging ministry officials to handle them well by uniting around the first and second vice foreign ministers.
First Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo will serve as acting minister.
His departure comes at an awkward time, as South Korea prepares to host world leaders in November. Relations with North Korea are also tense after Seoul accused its neighbor of a deadly attack on a South Korean warship.
“In the past, the [Yu] case could have been dismissed as a longstanding practice,” Lee said on Sunday. “By the fair society standards, however, the scandal cannot be acceptable.”
Lee, who is midway through his five-year term, presented a “fair society” of equal opportunity as his new vision after carrying out a Cabinet reshuffle last month.
However, his nominees for prime minister and two other Cabinet members stepped down on Aug. 29 after they were accused of unethical behavior during parliamentary confirmation hearings.
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