The Ministry of Public Administration and Security, which has been investigating whether a daughter of ex-foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan benefited from nepotism in landing a job at her father's ministry, said Monday that an official in charge of human resources at the ministry knew she had applied for a job and took part in the interview and test procedure in violation of regulations.

Along with another Foreign Ministry official, the man awarded Yu's daughter almost perfect scores, which played a pivotal role in her getting the job. Three other officials involved in the hiring who were not affiliated with the Foreign Ministry awarded higher scores to another applicant for the job. In its search for an official to specialize in trade disputes, the Foreign Ministry adjusted its hiring criteria to make it easier for Yu's daughter to get the job, by dropping a requirement for applicants to be lawyers and instead added a clause requiring them to have a master's degrees plus two years of work experience.

In Korean society, government jobs are highly prized for their stability, pay, social status and pensions. Some say government positions are not just ordinary office jobs but a form of status symbol. Such perceptions make it even more necessary for officials to ensure fairness and transparency in hiring to maintain public confidence. And considering the high unemployment rate among young people, the government needs to make extra sure that its hiring procedures are transparent.

But the Foreign Ministry made a mockery of the hiring process by using other applicants as mere foils in its attempt to get the minister's daughter on board. It even lied to the public by saying test administrators were deliberately prevented from knowing that one of the applicants was the minister's daughter. It is a disgrace for the ministry in charge of diplomatic affairs to behave in such a brazen and unethical way. The government must ensure that all of the officials involved are held accountable.

The problem is that nepotism is probably not limited to the Foreign Ministry. The ministry hired around 610 people for specialist positions from November 2003 until July this year. In 2008, various ministries hired 128 high-level civil servants for specialized positions and in 2009 102. There is no guarantee that no nepotism was involved.

It is understandable that increasingly specialized staff are necessary in government posts as administrative services become more intricate and diversified. But putting the Public Administration Ministry in charge of all government hiring for specialized positions is not the answer. The government should consider other options, such as increasing the number of interviews for applicants, with interviewers changing at each stage and outside specialists assessing applicants' performance in their previous jobs.