Monopoly on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s doctrine of pure blood, which has been criticized as a holy ground for those who passed the Foreign Service Examination (FSE), is beginning to break apart. These days, diplomats’ duties and their ways of getting employed are diversifying. Criticism that the ministry does not properly serve the people, for example, by neglecting their consular duties to protect the nation’s people and North Korean defectors abroad, is also prompting the reform of the ministry.

According to Dong-A Ilbo’s thorough analysis of personnel-related data by Kwon Young-se, a member of the Grand National Party, obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to uncover how diplomats and the ministry staff become employed, 290 out of 370 high-positioned diplomats (78.4 percent) who rank among the ninth to 14th levels are from the FSE. This figure is of late December 2006.

Meanwhile, only 29 (7.8 percent) are those who were specially employed such as those skilled with languages, local experts, or lawyers and accountants. Twenty-one individuals (5.7 percent) were overseas ambassadors appointed by the president from political, financial and academic circles, and only eight (2.2 percent) were from other government agencies.

Sixty-seven out of 72 ambassadors (93 percent) to the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, diplomats, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and bureau directors are from the FSE. The pure blood doctrine is especially noticeable in the high ranks.

However, as of October 2004, 556 of 1,082 employees are from the FSE, according to an analysis of how employees under the eighth level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became employed, excluding affiliate organization staff members and contract workers. Also, 37 (3.42 percent) individuals were hired after passing the Higher Civil Service Examination, and one individual passed a technology examination. The ministry recruited other 488 officials through special appointment and public invitations.

This indicates that the number of those from the FSE working for the Ministry is decreasing, and that the number of those specially employed is increasing.

It seems that the monopoly of the high ranks by those from the FSE and specific universities would be eased as the ministry plans to request high-ranking employees of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where personnel bottleneck is serious, to retire voluntarily, and the ministry will restructure its hiring system by employing those skilled with languages.

As of late December 2006, 208 out of 370 individuals (56.2 percent) from above the ninth level of the ministry were from Seoul National University. Forty-four (12 percent) were from Hanukkah University of Foreign Studies, 30 (8.2 percent) from Korea University, and 29 (7.9 percent) from Yonsei University. High officials in positions higher than bureau directors who graduated from those four universities make up 84 percent of the total.

Fifty-two out of 72 high-ranking diplomats (72 percent) who served as ambassadors or bureau directs, graduated from Seoul National University, which implies that they hold a monopoly of important posts. Also, those from the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University, the biggest academic faction within the ministry, compose 17.1 percent (63) of those higher than the ninth level and 37.5 percent (27) of all ambassadors and bureau directors.

Cheong Wa Dae appointed Kim Ho-young, the former director general for the administrative management bureau of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and the first non-diplomat, as the second vice minister for foreign affairs to help break up such a pure blood doctrine.

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be incorporated into the Senior Executive Service for the sake of personal exchange among the high ranks with first to third level employees this year, the barriers for entering into the ministry will likely be lessened.

However, some people within the ministry are against its restructuring and its bringing in external personage. A diplomat said, “It is not everything to specially employ or recruit those from other government agencies. It is difficult for those only specialized in languages or specific fields to serve as diplomats who need to possess a comprehensive ability to think and collect crucial information.”