Aspiring diplomats who have passed a new candidacy test entered the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul on Monday.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and academy chancellor Yun Duk-min attended the entrance ceremony for the first class of 43 diplomatic candidates.

After the ceremony, they went to Seoul National Cemetery to offer incense in front of Memorial Tower, then paid respects at the graveyard for diplomats killed in the Oct. 9, 1983, bombing in Rangoon, the capital of Burma.

The candidates consist of 18 men and 25 women. The curriculum, taken over three semesters or 49 weeks, is divided into four areas: public service values, professional knowledge, diplomatic competence and foreign languages.

The faculty includes former Foreign Ministers Gong Ro-myung and Han Seung-joo and former Ambassador to the United States Hyun Hong-choo.

The four worst performers will be eliminated after the course, with 39 candidates to be appointed to foreign service posts.

The government recruited a total of 1,361 mid-level diplomats through an annual written examination from 1968 and repealed the test after administering it this year for the last time. The test has been replaced with the diplomatic candidate test.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)