Nepotism scandal taints S Korea's "fair society" drive

South Korean government's fledgling "fair society" campaign suffered a major blow as foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan resigned over a nepotism scandal.

Just as President Lee Myung-bak promoted the notion of a fair society, proclaimed in his speech last month as a key theme for the second half of his five-year term, a major scandal epitomizing the very contrary raises doubts over the creed.

State auditors on Monday said the country's foreign ministry had bent its hiring rules to name a 35-year-old daughter of Yu Myung-hwan to a mid-level post. Qualifications for the job were revised apparently in her favor, and two of the five interviewers deliberately gave her near-perfect scores, according to inspectors.

"Standards of fairness and transparency were not met," Cho Yoon- myoung, an official at the public administration ministry, told a press briefing unveiling findings of a probe.

Yu's apology on Friday did little to soothe public fury over what is seen as preferential treatment for the privileged class, believed to preclude career opportunities for people with no strings to pull.

The snowballing controversy pressured the 64-year-old Yu, the longest-serving minister of the Lee administration, to make a disgraceful exit from his 36 years of public career. "I feel regretful," he was quoted as telling ministry officials Monday as he left the office.

The foreign ministry takes the situation "gravely" and will " take every necessary measure" to restore fairness in handling personnel issues, it said in a separate briefing on the same day.

The president, already embarrassed as scandals forced nominees for key cabinet jobs to withdraw, raised his voice in response.

"Civil servants as well as those who are powerful and rich should make greater efforts to make this society fairer," the president was quoted as telling cabinet members at a meeting on Sunday.

The preferential treatment could have been overlooked in the past as part of longstanding practice, but it is no longer acceptable under his fair society drive, Lee reportedly said.

As government auditors look into other potential nepotism cases, the employment fiasco now raises doubt over Lee's campaign as a whole.

A recent decision by the government to phase out examinations to select public servants has backfired, prompting even ruling party officials to criticize the plan for depriving ordinary people of chances to the public jobs.

An open-format recruiting system, currently being mulled as an alternative to the current state exams, can give undue favors to children of high-ranking government officials, the ruling Grand National Party officials have said.

The opposition camp agreed.

"A fair society should be fair to everybody," Park Jie-won, floor leader of the major opposition Democratic Party, said Monday in a meeting with party leaders. "I urge the president to define what exactly the fair society is like."

Source: Xinhua