(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Seoul April 27 - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won offered his resignation Sunday holding himself responsible for the government's poor response to the deadly sinking of a ferry that has left over 300 people dead or missing South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap) reported.
"I'd like to apologize for the mishandling of a slew of problems from preventive measures before the accident to the government's initial response and follow-up steps over the accident" Chung said at a press conference 11 days after the accident that is one of the country's worst maritime disasters.
"Witnessing the pains of families of the victims and grief and anger of the people I think the right thing for me to do is to take all responsibility and resign" he said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye will decide whether to accept the resignation after thorough consideration her office said.
The prime minister the second in command said although the priority is managing the situation he decided to resign "as it is not desirable for me to become a burden to the administration by staying in this post." Prime Minister Chung Hong-won offers his resignation at a press conference in Seoul on April 27 2014 holding himself responsible for the government's poor response to the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol 11 days ago. Of 476 passengers aboard more than 300 people are dead or missing.
Chung has been in charge of the pan-government response team to the maritime disaster.
As the Park government's first prime minister the former prosecutor took office in February last year.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.