All Ministers Offer to Resign

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo strikes the gavel at a Cabinet meeting in the Government Complex in Seoul, Tuesday, before offering to resign with his ministers amid rising protests against the beef import deal with the United States. / Korea Times Photo by Jo Young-ho

By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and his Cabinet ministers offered their resignations Tuesday amid rising protests against the beef import deal with the United States.

A Cabinet reshuffle is likely to occur early next week. Candlelit protests are expected to continue this week, especially on the occasion of the 6th anniversary of the killing of two middle school girls accidentally hit by a U.S. military armored vehicle on June 13, 2002 and the eighth anniversary of the inter-Korean summit on June 15.

The offer to resign comes only 107 days after President Lee Myung-bak's inauguration.

Lee will accept the resignations on a selective basis, Cheong Wa Dae sources said.

It remains to be seen whether Lee will replace Prime Minister Han and his chief of staff Yoo Woo-ik, they said. The reshuffle is expected to affect about half of the ministers and half of Lee's senior secretaries, some of whom will likely be replaced by politicians. The Lee administration has been accused of being negligent in understanding what the people really want.

The administration will put priority on ``personal moral standards'' and ``political mindset'' in selecting nominees.

``A complete Cabinet reshuffle will not necessarily be carried out,'' presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said. ``I don't know when the President will conduct the reshuffle, and so incumbent ministers will continue their duty until their replacements are announced.''

Prime Minister Han tendered the resignations to President Lee at Cheong Wa Dae, after presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the Government Complex, Seoul.

Sources said favorites to become prime minister include former Grand National Party (GNP) Chairwoman Park Geun-hye and incumbent party Chairman Kang Jae-sup.

Some regard Park as the right figure to help resolve the difficult situation facing the ruling camp, which was triggered by the U.S. beef import deal. President Lee had reportedly proposed to Park that she take the post before he formed his first Cabinet lineup.

GNP officials said Kang has been successfully managing the party based on strong leadership and compromise despite a string of internal feuds during last year's campaigns.

Lee is expected to accept the resignations of Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun, Finance Minister Kang Man-soo and Health and Welfare Minister Kim Do-yeon, sources said.

Reps. Kwon Oh-eul, Lee Bang-ho and Hong Moon-pyo are favored to become agriculture minister, while Jeon Jae-hee, the party's chief policymaker, is a candidate for health and welfare minister.

The sources did not rule out the possibility that former Financial Supervisory Commission chairman Yoon Jeung-hyun may become minister of strategy and finance to replace Kang Man-soo.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr

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