The hiring of Shim Woo-jung, the child of Prosecutor General Shim, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which sparked controversy over the so-called 'Dad Chance,' has been put on hold. On the 1st, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had directly requested a public audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection in response to opposition parties' allegations of 'preferential hiring.'
An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters in the afternoon, "To seek an objective judgment, we requested a public audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection this afternoon," adding, "We plan to withhold any decisions regarding the hiring until the audit results are released."
Earlier, Han Jeong-ae, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed that there was preferential treatment in the hiring process of Shim’s daughter, Shim Mo, as a fixed-term researcher (8 months) at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and as a permanent public service researcher at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In particular, suspicions arose that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs changed the qualification requirements from 'holders of a master's degree in economics' to 'holders of a master's degree in international politics' during the re-announcement of the public service researcher position after no candidates passed the first announcement, allegedly with Shim’s hiring in mind.
The Democratic Party has also announced its intention to request an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection. Additionally, the party plans to form a fact-finding investigation team, with Representative Han, who first raised the allegations, appointed as the head of the investigation team.
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