Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan Resigns

Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan Resigns. March. 15, 2006 03:03. by Jung-Hun Kim Yeon-Wook Jung jnghn@donga.com jyw11@donga.com.

President Roh Moo-hyun accepted Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan’s resignation yesterday.

According to Kim Man-su, a Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, President Roh said in a meeting with Uri Party Chairman Chung Dong-young yesterday that he would accept the suggestion that Lee’s resignation was unavoidable because of hostile public opinion over his golf outing on March 1.

Returning that day from a tour to three African countries, President Roh said, “’In principle, I should make a decision after the prosecution investigates regarding the incident. But considering various political situations, it is hard to keep such a principle.”

Kim said, “Considering that the prime minister’s recommendation is needed to appoint a new environment minister, it will take more time to proceed with Lee’s resignation,” signaling that the president will officially accept Lee’s resignation as early as early next week.

To appoint successors of Environment Minister Lee Jae-yong, who will run for the May 31 local elections, and Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kang Chul-kyu, whose term was expired, the prime minister’s recommendation is needed. Cheong Wa Dae is planning to name an environment minister-appointee on March 17 or March 20 at the latest.

With the president deciding to replace the prime minister, Cheong Wa Dae began to search for new prime minister candidates.

Among the candidates in consideration are Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Moon Jae-in, Chief Policy Advisor Kim Byung-jun, and Chairman of the Presidential Policy Planning Commission Lee Jung-woo. All are strong at understanding what the president thinks and are able to maintain the existing direction of state affairs.

A senior official at Cheong Wa Dae said about the qualities of a new prime minister, “For President Roh to focus on the core tasks of the latter half of his term, including resolution of bipolarization, a new prime minister must deeply understand the president’s philosophy in conducting state affairs, know well about state affairs in general, and have a strong drive.”

Prior to this, Lee visited Cheong Wa Dae yesterday morning immediately after President Roh returned to Korea and expressed his will to resign, saying, “I offer my apology once again for making trouble with my careless conduct.”

Postponing acceptance of the resignation in the meeting with Lee, the president accepted it in a meeting with the Uri Party chairman about four hours later. This is interpreted as the president’s support for Chung.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said that after being reported about the public opinion on the prime minister on March 12 when still on tour in Africa, President Roh made up his mind to replace the prime minister.

The president called Chung yesterday morning shortly after arriving at Seoul Airport to call him to Cheong Wa Dae.

Meanwhile, after the meeting with Chung, the president said to Presidential Chief of Staff Lee Byung-wan, “I hope that the relevant authorities will clarify suspicions over the incident through a swift and thorough investigation.”