SKorea defense minister resigns

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Yahoo News

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea's defense minister resigned Thursday, two days after an artillery attack by North Korea killed four people on small island near their disputed frontier.

The move came as President Lee Myung-bak vowed to send more troops to the island and as residents tried to salvage belongings from its blackened wreckage. Pyongyang warned of additional attacks if provoked.

Yim Tae-hee, presidential chief of staff, said Lee accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and said a new chief was to be announced Friday. The outgoing minister will keep his job until his replacement is announced, he said.

In May, the outgoing minister offered to resign following the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea. Yim said the president delayed accepting Kim's resignation offer until Thursday. He said Lee decided to accept the resignation because of recent military incidents and to improve the military's atmosphere.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_koreas_clash

[SpiralHawk]

1. Why didn't Commander AWOL resign after 9/11?

I mean, AWOL Bush was derelict in his duty to protect and defend America. He completely ignored some 60 warnings about 9/11, and then on the day of the attack he sat on his 'elite' Connecticut Yankee, pretend-Texan frat boy Skull & Boner keester and did NOTHING after having been told twice that America was under attack. He should have acted with honor. He should have resigned immediately for his massive FAIL. But then again, George AWOL Bush is a republicon...

[Angry Dragon]

2. To do the right thing would require him to have a soul

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Would have been great to have had Rumsfeld do that....

[soryang]

4. The S Korean President should resign for repudiating the...

...maritime border agreement negotiated by former President Kim Dae Jung and then conducting naval ops in the area ceded.

Tim Shorrock interview on this subject:


http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/24/tim_shorrock_direct_talks_with_north



"Anyone wanting to commit American ground forces to the mainland of Asia should have his head examined." Douglas MacArthur to JFK April 1961.

[Turborama]

5. That story has been updated but doesn't really give a good explanation why

This is all I could find in it...

On Thursday, Lee accepted his defense minister's offer to resign after lawmakers lashed out at the government, claiming officials were unprepared for Tuesday's attack and that the military response was too slow. Even those in Lee's ruling party demanded the dismissal of Defense Minister Kim Tae-young.

Must be a "face saving" thing.