The state audit agency announced last week that it had found 43 cases of embezzlement and other irregularities during its recent inspection of 18 diplomatic missions and other offices abroad.

Two Culture Ministry officials, who had been assigned to a cultural service center affiliated with the embassy in Moscow, were found to have embezzled money by doctoring documents. One of them drew up fake papers on fictitious contracts with local cultural agencies. The other official claimed more schooling allowances for his children than he was entitled to. They spent the money for personal purposes such as meals or land purchases, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection.

Their financial irregularities were unmasked years after they returned home, showing again the lax inspection system at overseas missions. The result of the latest BAI probe should serve as an occasion for the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies to tighten up discipline among their staff. State auditors say that, though not so large in amount, various kinds of financial and other wrongdoings had become routine at the missions subject to their inspection, including the embassy in Singapore and the consulate general in the Far East Russian city of Vladivostok.

The Foreign Ministry vowed to strengthen discipline at overseas missions last year after a scandal broke out that implicated some consular officials in Shanghai in improper relations with a Chinese woman. In 2010, a diplomat at the embassy in Berlin caused a traffic accident while driving under the influence of alcohol and another diplomat at the embassy in Washington was caught by police officers using a massage parlor during working hours. A year earlier, a consul general in Japan was summoned home to undergo questioning on suspicions of using public money for personal use and a senior diplomat assigned to Mongolia resigned after his affair with a local woman was revealed.

The latest BAI inspection should prompt the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies to check again the attitude of officials at overseas missions to preempt cases of serious wrongdoing from recurring. Questions can be raised on whether proper efforts have been made in a persistent manner.

The Foreign Ministry has complained about difficulties with overseeing officials from various government agencies. More authority and responsibility should be given to an ambassador to ensure the effective supervision of all the staff affiliated with his or her mission. Measures should be strengthened to arm officials dispatched abroad with a more thorough work ethic and warn them not to regard their overseas stint as a period when they can slack off.