A senior official at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) who scored a perfect mark on the national college entrance exam has left the civil service to attend law school, it was revealed on Monday.
Young elite officials who entered government service through fierce competition are increasingly leaving, citing rigid organizational culture, excessive workload and low compensation.
According to MOEF, Official A, who was in charge of budget coordination at the Budget Office, voluntarily resigned on Monday. Official A scored a perfect mark on the 2014 College Scholastic Ability Test, went on to study business administration at Seoul National University, and began a career at MOEF as a senior official before becoming a law school student as of Monday.
Law school is the destination of choice for many departing officials. Official B, who topped the 2023 Grade 5 civil service examination in the finance and economy track and was assigned to MOEF, also chose to enter law school the following year.
The exodus of junior officials is confirmed by statistics. According to the Government Employees Pension Service, the number of newly appointed officials who resigned within five years of appointment nearly doubled from 6,663 in 2019 to 12,263 last year.
Early departures among MZ generation (millennial and Gen Z) officials are particularly pronounced in the initial years of appointment. The number of officials who left before completing their first year rose from 1,769 in 2019 to 2,418 last year. Those who resigned within two years surged from 806 to 2,362 over the same period.
Observers inside and outside government agencies say that civil service, once considered a "job for life," is now being reduced to a "career stepping stone" for moving to the private sector or entering professions.
The departures are not limited to Grade 5 senior officials. Officials at Grades 6 and 7, who handle frontline work, are also leaving.
According to the office of Rep. Park Soo-young of the People Power Party, among the 6,510 general administrative national civil servants who resigned last year (excluding research and specialized positions), Grade 6 officials accounted for the largest share at 2,130 (32.7%), followed by Grade 7 officials at 1,195 (18.4%).
