Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

SOUTH KOREA

Premier offers his resignation

South Korea's prime minister offered to resign Sunday over the government's handling of a ferry sinking, blaming "evils" and societal irregularities for a tragedy that has left more than 300 dead or missing and led to wides shame, fury, and finger-pointing.

The resignation offer comes amid rising indignation over claims by victims' relatives that the government didn't do enough to rescue or to protect their loved ones. Most of the missing and dead were high school students. Officials have taken into custody all 15 people involved in navigating the ferry that sank April 16, a prosecutor said.

South Korean executive power is largely concentrated in the president, Park Geun-hye, so the resignation offer by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won appears to be largely symbolic. There was no word from Park about whether she would accept the resignation. - AP