S. Korean PM to resign on Thursday or Friday
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South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan is expected to formally offer his resignation on Thursday or Friday, local media reported on Thursday.
Chung is planning to hold a news conference later in the day to announce his intent to resign, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Chung reportedly expressed his strong intention to step down during an one-on-one meeting with the President Lee on July 3, taking responsibility for the failure to gain parliamentary approval for the contentious Sejong City revision bill.
With the completion of Wednesday's parliament by-elections, Chung believed "it's time to tender resignation", and the President Lee Myung-bak will likely accept it, according to local media.
In late June, Chung said in a national broadcast speech that he would shoulder responsibility for the government's failure to pass a revised bill aimed at scrapping an original plan by the previous administration to relocate parts of the government out of the capital Seoul. It was widely believed that Chung's speech send a signal that he will step down.
The South Korean parliament last month voted down President Lee's amendment to a plan by his predecessor to form a new administrative center in central part of the country in an attempt to address regional disparity, to create a business and science hub named Sejong, housing branches of local business giants and universities.
Chung, a former college professor who was appointed to the top Cabinet job last September, has been a leading advocate of the alternative development plan.
Lee Myung-bak said in his first public speech after a crushing defeat of his Grand National Party in local elections in early June, that he will shake up the cabinet and his office "so that it will work more efficiently".
The realignment of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has been completed as of this week, and Chung's resignation may speed up the process of a widely anticipated Cabinet reshuffle, according to local media.
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