52 Pass the 2nd Diplomatic Candidate Exam... Women Exceed 65%

Passing Score for 2nd Diplomat Candidate Exam at 63.73 Points... Average Score of Successful Candidates at 67.29 Points, Higher Than Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] A total of 52 candidates passed the 2nd exam for the selection of diplomatic officer candidates. Notably, the proportion of female successful candidates increased by more than 12 percentage points compared to last year, exceeding 65% of the total.

The Ministry of Personnel Management announced the list of 52 successful candidates for the 2nd exam in the general diplomacy field for the 2021 diplomatic officer candidate selection on the 27th. In the 2nd exam held last July for the general diplomacy field, 297 candidates competed for 40 positions, resulting in a competition rate of 7.4 to 1.

The final interview will be held on October 16 at the Gwacheon branch of the National Human Resources Development Institute. The final list of successful candidates will be announced on October 26.

The pass rate of female candidates in the 2nd examination for diplomatic service candidates. [Data provided by the Ministry of Personnel Management]

The Ministry of Personnel Management explained, "This year’s passing score for the 2nd exam was 63.73 points, which is 1.83 points higher than last year’s 61.90 points, and the average score of successful candidates was 67.29 points, 2.29 points higher than last year’s 65.00 points."

The average age of successful candidates was 26.3 years, the same as last year. Looking at the age distribution, 25-29 years old accounted for the largest portion at 75.0% (39 people), followed by 20-24 years old at 17.3% (9 people), and 30-34 years old at 7.7% (4 people).

Female successful candidates accounted for 65.4% (34 people), an increase of 12.1 percentage points from last year’s 53.3% (32 people). One additional candidate passed due to the application of the Local Talent Recruitment Quota System to expand public service entry for local talents.

The Ministry of Personnel Management stated, "The Local Talent Recruitment Quota System is a system that allows local talents to pass beyond the planned number of successful candidates to ensure that the proportion of local talents among the successful candidates at each exam stage meets a certain percentage," adding, "No additional candidates passed due to the application of the Gender Equality Recruitment Quota System."