A diplomatic sex scandal has erupted out of the Korean Embassy in Mongolia, coming just days after a similar scandal involving a Chinese woman shook the nation, according to news reports in Seoul.

A high ranking diplomat at the Korean Embassy in Ulan Bator was reported to have had an inappropriate relationship with a local woman, the government official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.


When the official returned to Seoul from his duty in Mongolia, she, who was pregnant at the time, demanded a large sum of money, threatening to reveal their secret relationship otherwise, the report said. A criminal ring was reported to have been involved in the subsequent spat.

The official resigned in February, 2010, when the government started to investigate the case.

A source said Thursday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been nicknamed the “Ministry of Love Affairs” because of a number of previous scandals there.

As diplomats stay overseas for lengthy periods, they can become more exposed to the possibility of having an affair, according to sources.

The news comes as a sex-for-favors scandal, in which three S. Korean consuls in Shanghai are alleged to have given confidential government information to their 33-year-old mistress, is rocking South Korea.

(wylee@heraldcorp.com)