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S. Korean Unification Minister to Resign
Criticized as too soft on DPRK, a key architect of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's ``sunshine'' policy on engaging the North said Monday that he would quit, hours after South Korea's parliament voted for his ouster.
The no-confidence motion against Unification Minister Lim Dong-won was likely to hinder Kim's attempts to win parliamentary approval for initiatives with the North. It came one day after DPRK offered to resume talks, stalled since March because of U.S.-DPRK tension.
Kim Dae-jung's so-called ``sunshine'' policy toward the North led to the first-ever summit between leaders of the two Koreas and helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize last year. The summit led to a series of exchanges, including reunions of separated family members and an agreement to reconnect a cross-border railway.
Despite the policy's earlier success, opposition lawmakers had accused the president and his aides, including Lim, of yielding to DPRK appeals for aid and other concessions without demanding conciliatory gestures in return.
``I will submit my resignation'' on Tuesday, Lim, a former intelligence chief, told reporters as he left his ministry at the end of the day.
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