CIO Clears Former Prosecutor General Woojung Shim of 'Preferential Hiring of Daughter' Allegations: "No Clear Evidence Found"

All Hiring Allegations at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dismissed

Procedural Issues Such as Experience Recognition Confirmed

Two Individuals Referred for Separate Investigation

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has cleared former Prosecutor General Woojung Shim of allegations regarding the preferential hiring of his daughter. However, procedural issues were found in the hiring process, such as recognition of experience and changes to application requirements. The CIO has decided to refer two related individuals for separate investigations.

Former Prosecutor General Woojung Shim Appears Before Special Prosecutor Cha Sangbyung as a Suspect. Yonhap News

On May 27, the CIO’s Third Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor: Lee Daehwan) announced that it had cleared nine individuals—including former Prosecutor General Woojung Shim, former Foreign Minister Tae-yeol Cho, and former Dean of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy Cheolhee Park—of charges including abuse of authority, bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, offering bribes, and violations of the Anti-Graft Act.

Former Prosecutor General Woojung Shim was suspected of involvement in providing preferential treatment to his daughter, Ms. Shim, during her hiring as a contract researcher at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in 2024 and as a permanent research staff member at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last year. There were also allegations that he was improperly involved in the selection process when another child was chosen as a scholarship recipient from a scholarship foundation in 2018–2019.

The CIO received three complaints between March and June last year, executed two search and seizure warrants, and issued three telecommunications warrants while conducting related interviews. The investigation found that, regarding the contract researcher position at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, Ms. Shim's experience amounted to a maximum of 22 months once overlapping periods were excluded, yet she was credited with the two-year experience requirement. Additionally, the CIO confirmed that work experience listed on supporting documents, which were submitted after the deadline, was counted, and that Ms. Shim was recognized as meeting the degree requirement even though, at the time of the job posting, she was only expected to obtain her master’s degree.

However, the CIO concluded that there was no evidence of instructions or implicit suggestions to select any particular individual such as Ms. Shim. It noted that summing up her submitted work experience could have led to a mistaken impression that she exceeded the two-year requirement, and considered that additional documents were submitted to supplement the application after the initial application and work experience certificates had been submitted on time. The CIO also found that the recognition of the degree requirement for a prospective degree holder seemed to be based on previous hiring cases, making it difficult to definitively conclude that preferential hiring occurred.

Procedural issues were also found in the hiring of permanent research staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For this position, although there was a need to hire someone with an economics background, the required field of study was changed to ‘international politics’ in the job posting without sufficient discussion, and work experience acquired prior to obtaining a master's degree was counted as professional experience. It was also determined that, before the interview, a staff member from the hiring department told interviewers that Ms. Shim had performed well on the written test.

Nevertheless, the CIO again found no evidence of instructions or implicit suggestions to select a specific individual. It cited the hiring staff’s lack of familiarity with the requirements for recognizing work experience, and noted that, in addition to Ms. Shim, two other applicants were also credited for experience gained before earning a master’s degree. The fact that staff members acknowledged procedural issues in the hiring process but denied any preferential treatment was also taken into account.

The scholarship allegations were also cleared. The CIO reviewed the complainant’s claim that the scholarship foundation usually selected students from science and engineering fields and that the selection of former Prosecutor General Shim’s child was suspicious. However, the CIO confirmed that the foundation had also selected students from the humanities, including more than 20 humanities students at that time, and found no evidence of unlawful selection.

The CIO stated, “We have identified charges of forgery and use of private documents related to the candidate’s experience documentation, as well as charges of drafting and using false official documents by a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official during internal reporting processes.” However, the agency explained that these are not subject to investigation under the CIO Act and will therefore be referred for separate investigation. The CIO also announced that it would notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of misconduct, such as the reduction of application requirements and false responses by its officials.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.