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S. Korean president likely to accept PM's resignation

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun- hye is highly likely to accept the resignation by Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo after a foreign trip early next week, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

Lee offered to resign late Monday amid growing suspicions that he was involved in a bribery scandal.

President Park, who is on a 12-day trip to Latin American countries, is scheduled to return home on April 27.

Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said in a statement that President Park said "it was very regrettable and (she) feels the agony of the prime minister."

Before leaving for Latin America, Park said she would decide on Lee's fate after the visit.

Lee's resignation came amid allegations that he received 30 million won (28,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes from a businessman who killed himself on April 9.

Sung Wan-jong, a former ruling party lawmaker and businessman who ran the now-bankrupt construction firm, left a brief memo that listed eight heavyweight politicians, including Lee and presidential chief of staff Lee Byung-kee.

Sung told local media before hanging himself that he gave 30 million won to the prime minister in April 2013 during the by- election campaigns.

Prosecutors formed a special team to investigate the scandal, but concerns emerged that Lee as the sitting prime minister may block the probe as he receives prosecution reports.

Lee, who took office in Feruary, is highly likely to become the country's shortest-serving prime minister in history.

The country's second-highest administrative post turned out to be hard to get and more difficult to maintain.

The first prime minister candidate for the Park's government withdrew in January 2013 amid controversy over his property speculation and abusing his former post as chief justice of the constitutional court.

Chung Hong-won, the first prime minister under Park, offered to step down after the Sewol ferry disaster in April last year, but he retained the post as two other nominees withdrew candidacy amid controversy over their past wrongdoings. Endi