Cabinet Members Offer Resignations

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo offered his and all Cabinet ministers` resignations to President Lee Myung-bak at a weekly Cabinet meeting Monday to take responsibility for mounting controversy over U.S. beef imports.

The en masse resignation follows that of the presidential senior secretaries last Friday and signals a sweeping reshuffle. The collective resignation offer from both the Cabinet and the presidential secretariat 107 days after the current administration’s inauguration, the shortest amount of time since the former Kim Young-sam administration, will inevitably bring about a huge void in the running of state affairs.

“The prime minster and the Cabinet members offered to resign not to give any burden to President Lee. A large-scale reshuffle is likely as early as Thursday or early next week at the latest,” said an official at Cheong Wa Dae.

Well aware of the fact that botched personnel management has put a strain on the Lee administration, the president is expected to carefully pick the right people based on their integrity and capabilities this time. He will also consider choosing politicians and bureaucrats hailing from various regions, in particular from Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces, said a close aid to the president.

“To fully live up to the purpose of personnel revamp, Prime Minster Han and Presidential Chief of Staff Yu Woo-ik or, at least, one of the two, will be replaced. Who will go is closely related to the overall reshuffle plan,” said an official.

Among the Cabinet members, at least four ministers are expected to be fired, including Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo. After reaching an agreement on the selective Cabinet reshuffle, the presidential office reportedly began a screening process for the replacements.

Cheong Wa Dae is also expected to dismiss or change the posts of over half of the senior secretaries including Park Jae-wan, Lee Jong-chan, Kim Jung-soo, and Kim Byung-kook, who are responsible for political, civil, economic, and foreign affairs, respectively.

“Though the Cabinet tendered resignations, the ministers and senior secretaries will take their positions for the time being until the president chooses successors to prevent a possible void in the administration,” said Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.

Amid never-ending candlelight protests, whether this unprecedented collective resignation can soothe the public’s uproar over the beef issue and help recover the people’s trust in the government remains to be seen.

swpark@donga.com