South Korea's point man on North Korea said Wednesday that he has offered his resignation to President Roh Moo-hyun over what he called unnecessary debates over the government's handling of North Korea's nuclear test.
"I am confident about the results our North Korea engagement policy has achieved. But I thought it would be better for someone more capable to fill this post when our efforts and achievements for peace and security on the peninsula and inter-Korean reconciliation have been recklessly politicized," Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told reporters Wednesday.
"I tried to give (my decision) a lot of consideration and assess my thoughts, but I visited the president yesterday and told him my intention to step down," he added.
Lee said he offered his resignation over lunch and said, "What is clear is that the president said he would accept my offer to step down."
Confirming the minister's offer, Roh's office, Cheong Wa Dae, also indicated the president would accept it.
"Lee expressed his intention to quit during his lunch with President Roh on Tuesday and again delivered his desire (to the president) through his chief of staff Wednesday morning," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Tae-young said.
"Briefed on Lee's resignation, the president didn't have any specific response. Lee's successor will be appointed at the same time the president names new defense and foreign ministers next month."
With Lee's resignation, if accepted, the president is expected to reshuffle all of his security-related ministers, as Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung offered to step down earlier in the week.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is also expected to step down from his Cabinet post following his recent appointment as the next United Nations secretary-general.
The resignation offer follows North Korea's nuclear test on Oct. 9 that was conducted in what officials have called "brazen defiance" of Seoul's appeals.
Unification Minister Lee has since been widely criticized for his allegedly too-lenient attitude toward Pyongyang. Seoul provided more than US$1.57 billion in humanitarian assistance and other economic cooperation projects to the communist nation since 1995, according to the ministry.
Floor leader Kim Hyong-o of the main opposition Grand National Party said earlier in the week his party would submit a resolution for Lee's ouster unless the minister resigned voluntarily.
Lee, however, said his resignation does not mean he or the government acknowledges any wrongdoing in handling the North Korean nuclear issue, saying, "I do not believe I have made any serious mistakes while carrying out North Korea policy as unification minister."
He also expressed strong resentment over the public criticism, saying it is important to evaluate a person or the government "based on their capacity."
"It is as if they are blaming the king" for droughts, he said.
Lee said he would return to the Sejong Institute, a private think tank where worked as a senior researcher before joining the administration in 2003 as the secretary-general of the presidential National Security Council, after he steps down. He was tapped as the unification minister in February this year.
When asked whether he had recommended the president to appoint any specific person as his successor, the minister said he cannot reveal to the public everything he discussed with the president on Tuesday.
Seoul, Oct. 25 (Yonhap News)
Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok offers to resign |
