SEOUL – South Korean president Lee Myung Bak has accepted his army chief’s offer of resignation less than three weeks after he replaced the defence minister following a North Korean artillery attack that killed four people.
The resignation by Gen Hwang Eui Don follows a newspaper report last week suggesting that he may have made an improper property investment. An official at Mr Lee’s office wouldn’t say why Gen Hwang offered to quit.
Mr Lee's acceptance of the resignation comes after he pledged to strengthen the military following North Korea's November 23rd shelling of Yeonpyeong island and the March sinking of the Cheonanwarship.
Gen Hwang was appointed in June as Mr Lee replaced several four-star generals, including the joint chiefs of staff chairman, following the sinking that killed 46 sailors.
“It’s all part of the government efforts to show how determined it is about revamping the military,” said Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “The reshuffle of top posts could send a message that South Korea is serious about retaliating against any North Korean provocation when it says it will.”
Mr Lee named Kim Kwan Jin as defence minister just three days after the artillery barrage, amid criticism that the military’s response was inadequate.
Mr Kim said at his December 3rd confirmation hearing that he would use all military capabilities, including air strikes, if North Korea attacked again. US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg was due to arrive in Beijing yesterday as the administration of President Barack Obama puts pressure on China to push its ally, North Korea, to change its behaviour.
North Korea has agreed to push forward with six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programme, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters yesterday.
China has proposed to convene “emergency” six-party talks to defuse tensions on the peninsula, a call rejected by the US, Japan and South Korea.
The assault on Yeonpyeong was North Korea’s first shelling of South Korean soil since their 1950-53 war, which ended in a ceasefire, leaving the Korean peninsula still in a technical state of war. – (Bloomberg)