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| SEOUL, March 14 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday he will accept Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan's resignation offer.
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SEOUL, March 14 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korean Prime
Minister Lee Hae-chan on Tuesday offered to resign over a so-called "golf
scandal",confirmed by South Korean Presidential Office.
"President Roh Moo-hyun met with Prime Minister Lee
at the Presidential Office shortly after his return from a nine-day African
trip, along with a number of Presidential Office's secretaries," Roh's spokesman
Kim Man-soo said.
"At the meeting, Lee offered to step down as prime
minister. But the president did not show any response," the spokesman added,
explaining that the president who looked still suffering from fatigue may take
more time before his final decision on the embattled prime minister's
resignation offer.
Lee has been at a center of criticism since earlier
this month for he played golf with a group of businessmen on March 1 in
Busan,when a nationwide strike of railway workers began. The day is also a
public holiday to mark a 1919 mass uprising for independence against Japanese
colonial rule.
Even worse, one of Lee's golf partners was found to
have criminal records. The businessman, head of a flour mill company, was
reportedly ruled by the Fair Trade Commission to pay 3.5 billion won (3.58
million U.S. dollars) in financial penalty for illegal business activities.
Local media and opposition parties have widely raised
the possibility the flour businessman was lobbying the prime minister during the
golf game to avoid the penalty. The opposition parties all demanded Lee step
down.
On March 10, the main opposition Grand National Party
(GNP) filed a complaint against Lee on charges of accepting a 1-million-won
(1,030 dollars) bet during the golf game from those businessmen.
South Korean prosecution was reportedly to
investigate the allegation in the near future.
Lee has since made four public apologies for his
inconsiderate behavior which caused controversy among local people. But this
time his apologies seemed not to work.
A recent opinion poll showed more than 52.8 percent
of the respondents said the prime minister should resign.
Born on July 10, 1952, in Cheongyang County, South
Chungcheong Province, Lee was elected as lawmaker of the National Assembly
forsix times.
Lee took office as the country's prime minister in
June 2004. Enditem | 
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