South Korea's prime minister offers to resign amid scandal

South Korea's prime minister has offered to resign amid a bribery scandal just two months after he took up the country's No. 2 post, officials said April 21, in the latest political crisis to hit President Park Geun-hye.

Lee Wan Koo has been at the center of a corruption scandal that flared after a businessman killed himself earlier this month, leaving a memo listing the names of eight high-profile figures he claimed to have bribed.

Most of the eight men, including Lee, are considered as close associates of Park.
     
Businessman Sung Wan-jong told a local daily before his death he gave 30 million won ($27,390) to Lee in 2013.
     
Lee has denied the allegation but he has seen growing calls to resign after South Korea's media have reported alleged evidence that indicates his ties with Sung. Lee's office said April 21 he conveyed his resignation offer April 20 to President Park, who was in Peru on a four-nation trip.
     
Park described Lee's resignation offer as "very regrettable" and said she "felt the prime minister's agony," according to a statement posted on the website of the presidential Blue House.
     
Park also called for a thorough investigation into the scandal, the statement said.
     
Chun Hye-ran, a presidential spokeswoman in Seoul, said she has not been informed whether Park would accept the resignation offer.
     
The latest scandal comes as Park struggles to deal with criticism over her government's handling of last year's ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people. Violence broke out at a Seoul rally April 18 led by relatives of the ferry victims and their supporters, leaving dozens of people injured. Park has also faced criticism over what analysts say is her poor...