President Moon Jae-in on Thursday called for a “blind” hiring process to be implemented in the public sector.

“A blind recruiting process should be implemented from the second half (of 2017) in hiring civil servants and for public sector positions,” Moon said during a meeting with his chief secretaries.

An individual’s place of origin, physical appearance and education background are elements that could be used in discrimination, Moon said, therefore such information should be excluded in the recruiting process, once applicants meet the required criteria.

“By excluding such elements, (applicants) should be given fair competition, and be allowed to start from the same place -- whether they are from elite universities or not, and whether they were educated at universities in Seoul or in the provinces.”

Moon added that while the government cannot force the private sector to adopt such measures, he would like to suggest the system to private organizations.

According to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun, blind recruitment includes the use of standardized resumes, and detailed plans for introducing the system will be drawn up within the month.

Certain information normally required in Korean resumes, including personal information and place of origin, will be removed in the standardized version, Park added.

“In order to facilitate the expansion into the private sector, (the government) will draw up guidelines that reflect experts’ opinions and push for related laws to be revised,” Park said.

He added that the related ministries including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance will announce the plans within the month and that state-run organizations will adopt the changes within the year.

Moon also called on state-run organizations based outside of Seoul to hire more people from their localities.

“It would be desirable for state organizations that have moved to the provinces to fill at least 30 percent of new hires with local talent,” Moon said, adding that although state-run organizations had initially planned to implement such measures, the results fall short of the targets, with some organizations’ figures falling below 10 percent.

He instructed his aides to “establish clear standards, or to encourage” state-run organizations to meet the 30 percent target, saying that only then will balanced development be achieved.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)