Minister Park resigns over loan scandal

Culture-Tourism Minister Park Jie-Won told the press this morning that he had expressed his intention to resign from office in order not to place a burden on the execution of state affairs and said that he was very sorry for causing the people trouble. Minister Park has come under heavy fire from the opposition Grand National Party for his alleged involvement in the Hanvit Bank loan scandal.

The outgoing minister said that he would positively cooperate with the prosecution in its investigations as a private citizen, adding that Lee Un-Young, a former branch head of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, would present himself before the prosecution by Thursday afternoon as promised and clear up the affairs surrounding the case.

Despite Park's resignation, the opposition GNP continued to demand the appointment of a special prosecutor to shed light on the controversy, expressing doubts about possible political normalization.

Meanwhile, the ruling MDP expressed hope that Park's resignation would provide momentum for parliamentary normalization, and decided to kick off negotiations with the opposition party after reporting a final formula for the resolution of inter-party problems to President Kim as soon as he returns home from his trip to Japan.