350 applicants applied for an intern in Cheong Wa Dae

Amid harsh job market conditions, 350 job seekers submitted their applications to Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, which is set to hire five interns. The competition ratio is a whopping 70 to 1.


In an unprecedented move, Cheong Wa Dae announced on its website on June 16 that it would hire five temporary workers for six months with a salary of W1.1M(less than $1,100), aiming to encourage other government offices and companies to follow suit.

The national statistical office revealed on June 14 that the May unemployment rate stands at 3.2 per cent, down by 0.3 per cent from a year earlier.But the youth unemployment rate(aged 15-29) is still higher than the average with 7.1 per cent.

While more than 0.87M young people stay as "NEETs(not in education, employment, or training)," "FREETERS(who work part time in casual jobs with no training and little chance of acquiring marketable skills)," or somewhere between the two, employing five interns seem just too small to make any difference.