Grade 9 specialist tracks that require a professional licence

A handful of Grade 9 tracks, librarian, stenography or shorthand, social welfare, and cadastral or land survey, require a relevant professional licence or certificate in addition to meeting the standard age and nationality conditions that apply to every other Grade 9 track. This makes them the exception to the general rule that no education or professional qualification is required to sit the exam.

Which Grade 9 tracks require a professional licence?

Four specialist tracks carry a licence or certificate requirement: librarian (사서직), which requires a relevant library and information science qualification; stenography or shorthand (속기직), which requires a recognised shorthand or stenography certificate; social welfare (사회복지직), which requires a social welfare practitioner qualification; and cadastral or land survey (지적직), which requires a relevant surveying or cadastral qualification. Each track’s exact licence requirement is set out in that year’s MPM recruitment announcement.

Why do these tracks require a licence when most Grade 9 tracks do not?

South Korea abolished the general education requirement for civil service exams in 1973, and most Grade 9 tracks reflect that by having no schooling or qualification bar beyond age and nationality; see our explainer on age eligibility for the general rule. The specialist tracks are carved out as exceptions because the roles themselves require a specific professional competency that a general written exam cannot fully substitute for, a librarian genuinely needs library science training, a social welfare officer genuinely needs a recognised welfare qualification, in a way that general administrative work does not require a specific degree.

Do specialist tracks still take the same written exam format?

The shared subjects, Korean, English and Korean history, remain common across specialist tracks the same way they are across most Grade 9 tracks, with the specialist subject knowledge tested through the track’s own subject papers rather than replacing the written exam altogether. The licence or certificate requirement functions as an eligibility condition to apply in the first place, not a substitute for the written exam itself. See our explainer on exam subjects and format for how subject lists vary by track more generally.

How does this compare with the correctional track’s requirements?

The correctional and protective services track is a different kind of exception: it does not require a professional licence to apply, but it does raise the minimum age to 20 and adds a physical fitness test between the written exam and interview. See our explainer on the correctional service track for the details. A candidate should not assume every non-general-administration track shares the same kind of additional requirement; each specialist and technical track has its own specific conditions confirmed in the yearly announcement.

Can I apply to a specialist track without holding the licence yet?

The recruitment announcement for each cycle specifies exactly when a qualifying licence or certificate must be held, generally by application time or another fixed point in the process, and a candidate should not assume a licence obtained after that point will be accepted. Because these details are set independently for each track and can shift between cycles, checking the current year’s specific announcement for the track in question, rather than a prior year’s rule, is the only reliable way to confirm eligibility.

Are specialist tracks less competitive than general administration?

Not necessarily, and not in a consistent direction. Specialist tracks typically open far fewer vacancies than the general administration track in a given cycle, which can push their competition ratio in either direction depending on how many licence-holders apply relative to seats that year; see our explainer on the 2026 competition ratio for how vacancy counts shape competition more generally across the exam.

FAQ

Which Grade 9 tracks require a professional licence? Librarian, stenography or shorthand, social welfare, and cadastral or land survey are the four specialist tracks with a licence or certificate requirement.

Do specialist tracks skip the general Korean, English and Korean history subjects? No. Those subjects remain common across specialist tracks; the licence requirement is an additional eligibility condition, not a substitute for the shared written subjects.

Is the correctional track considered a specialist track? It is a separate kind of exception, requiring a higher minimum age and a physical fitness test rather than a professional licence.

By when do I need to hold the required licence? The exact deadline is set in each year’s recruitment announcement for the specific track and should be confirmed there directly.

Are specialist track vacancies smaller than general administration? Generally yes, which can affect competition ratios in either direction depending on applicant numbers for that specific cycle.