The Foreign Ministry is expected to regain authority of some of its special recruitment programs that were taken away upon a nepotism scandal involving the daughter of a then-top diplomat in 2010.

The Foreign Ministry will exclusively oversee the recruitment process for sixth- and seventh-grade diplomats starting this year, an official told Yonhap, citing improvement in its program operation capability and transparency. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security will continue to monitor the process.

The scandal involved then-Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan who resigned in September 2010 after his daughter was found to have received special favors when landing a job at the ministry.

Amid a public furor, the ministry transferred the authority of the special recruitment procedure for fifth-grade diplomats to MOPAS.

The two ministries have jointly run the program for sixth and seventh grade. But some officials have raised issues citing disparity between the needs and supplies in the new workforce.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)