The resignation of Yu Myung-hwan, 64, comes a week after President Lee Myung-bak’s prime minister-designate and two other ministerial nominees stepped down amid allegations of corruption.
Yu’s daughter, Yu Hyun-sun, was employed at the Foreign Ministry between 2006 and 2009, said a Foreign Ministry source. She was to sign a contract on Aug. 31 with the foreign ministry to work on trade matters but public criticism forced her to not take up the position.
“The foreign minister has resigned to accept responsibility for all the commotion caused by the ministry employing his daughter,” said a presidential source.
It was not immediately clear who would replace him.
Yu’s resignation is not expected to affect South Korea’s foreign policy priorities that are focused on cementing close ties with Washington, and isolating North Korea following the torpedoing of a South Korean naval ship in March that resulted in the death of 46 sailors.
Seoul, with the backing of Washington, blames the attack on Pyongyang. North Korea denies responsibility and said it wants to return to long-stalled multilateral talks.
South Korea’s nuclear envoy told reporters in Washington Friday that a return to talks with North Korea was “premature”.
Yu unexpectedly apologized for the controversy surrounding his daughter at the Foreign Ministry on Friday. President Lee Myung-bak’s response to Yu’s offer to resign was terse.
“I got it,” Lee was quoted as saying by a presidential source. Lee has suffered public criticism for his choice of officials but also for pardoning business leaders convicted of crimes.
In another development, a US-South Korean naval exercise aimed at deterring North Korea following its alleged attack on a Seoul corvette has been postponed due to an approaching typhoon, a report said Saturday.
The five-day drill in the Yellow Sea, which had been due to start Sunday, is the second in a series of joint exercises “designed to send a clear message of deterrence” to the North while improving anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the US Forces Korea said in a statement.
But Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the maneuvers had been put off as Typhoon Malou, which was located off southern Japan on Saturday, is expected to hit South Korea early next week, the South’s Yonhap news agency said. New dates for the exercises will be announced later, according to the report.
The anti-submarine drill, denounced by the North as a preparation for war, is to be the latest show of force since Seoul and Washington accused Pyongyang in May of sending a submarine to torpedo the warship, killing 46 crew.
