Ranked 9th in Documents and 6th in Interview, Two Final Candidates Selected for Executive Director... KOICA Faces Appointment Controversy

At the end of last year, Son Jeong-mi, who was finally appointed as the Executive Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), ranked 9th out of 20 in the first document screening and 6th out of 10 in the second interview round. Son is the older sister of lawyer Son Kyung-sik, who served as the legal representative of President Yoon Seok-yeol's mother-in-law.

During the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee’s audit held on the 24th, Lee Jae-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, repeatedly raised suspicions that the appointment process for two executive directors was opaque while disclosing related materials.

According to the materials disclosed by Representative Lee, Son Jeong-mi, Executive Director of the Global Solidarity and Partnership Division, who was selected as one of the final two executive directors, passed the document screening ranked 9th and then ranked 6th in the interview.

Son is an external KOICA figure who previously served as the head of the Foreign Investment Attraction Team at the Chungbuk Provincial Government Investment Promotion Division, a professor in the Department of Global Trade at Cheongju University, and a global cooperation officer at the Osong Advanced Medical Industry Promotion Foundation.

On the day, Representative Lee Jae-jung raised suspicions of a "parachute appointment," stating, "Usually, 2 to 3 times the number of candidates are advanced after the document screening." In response, KOICA Chairman Jang Won-sam replied, "According to regulations, recommendations can be made within a range of 3 to 5 times the number."

When Representative Lee repeatedly requested an explanation for the appointment of Son, who ranked 6th in the final interview, Chairman Jang responded, "Various considerations such as gender, external candidates outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KOICA, and language skills were taken into account."

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