Yonhap News Agency reported that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is investigating Ambassador to China Jeong Jae-ho for allegedly workplace bullying of embassy staff.
The report quoted sources in the diplomatic community as saying that a foreign officer working at the embassy in China reported to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this month, claiming that Jeong Jae-ho had bullied him by using swear words, etc. It is reported that the person concerned is a foreign officer dispatched from other government departments to China, and there are also people inside and outside the embassy who claim that Jeong Jae-ho also uses swear words to other staff on a regular basis.
The report said that a Foreign Ministry official confirmed that it had received complaints about the embassy in China and was verifying the situation, emphasizing that if there were any illegal acts such as workplace bullying, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would conduct a fair investigation and take severe measures.
Jeong Jae-ho is an expert on Chinese politics and economics. He was a classmate of President Yoon Suk-yeol in high school. In April 2022, while serving as a professor in the Department of Political and Diplomatic Studies at Seoul National University, he accompanied Yoon Suk-yeol on a visit to the US as a member of the Korea-US policy consultation delegation, responsible for providing the president with explanations on China policies. In June of the same year, he was appointed Ambassador to China and officially took up his duties in August.
