Lawmaker pushes to scrap civil service exam fees for youth, vulnerable job seekers

Rep. Heo Young of the Democratic Party of Korea, who represents the Chuncheon-Cheorwon-Hwacheon-Yanggu A district in Gangwon Province, introduced bills Tuesday to amend the National Civil Service Act and the Local Civil Service Act to fully waive application fees for new government hire exams.

Under current law, payment of civil service exam application fees is the default, while fee reductions for vulnerable groups are left to discretionary provisions — an arrangement that has drawn criticism for its lack of legal stability and predictability.

Equity concerns have also been raised because fee requirements vary by exam type even within the same public hiring process. Open-position selection exams administered by the Ministry of Personnel Management are already fee-exempt, while national general civil service exams and local government open-position selection exams still charge applicants.

Critics have called the current system a "structural contradiction," noting that private companies and public institutions are prohibited under the Act on Fair Hiring Procedures from passing recruitment screening costs onto job seekers — yet civil service applicants remain the exception. Beyond open-position exams, fee reduction standards and procedures for local government civil service exams vary widely depending on the personnel rules of individual cities, provinces, counties and local assemblies.

According to Heo, about 129,406 people sat for national civil service open competitive exams last year, generating an estimated 730 million won ($492,000) in application fee revenue. The financial burden has grown as applying for multiple exam categories simultaneously has become common practice.

Annual application fee revenue from local government civil service exams is estimated at around 1.1 billion won. When the administrative costs incurred by local governments in individually collecting and refunding fees are factored in, observers say a full waiver would be more efficient than maintaining the current system.

"Public service must be open to everyone, and no one should give up on pursuing it because of financial burden," Heo said. "Since civil service hiring is a public process for which the state is responsible, it is only right that the state bear the cost of application fees. Through this amendment, I intend to lower the barrier to entering public service for young people and those who face disadvantages in the job market, and to create a hiring environment where anyone can compete fairly on the basis of ability."