Cabinet Quits Over S. Korea Torture Case

President Chun Doo Hwan today accepted the resignations of his prime minister and seven other officials after his entire Cabinet offered to quit over a police torture case.

A government spokesman said that Prime Minister Lho Shin Yong resigned along with the deputy prime minister; the ministers of finance, home affairs and justice; the attorney general, the head of the national security planning board and a junior law minister.

All 26 members of the Cabinet submitted their resignations earlier in the day at a emergency meeting chaired by Lho, according to state-run media. Lho then went to Blue House, the presidential mansion, for a meeting with Chun, who decided to retain 18 Cabinet members, it was reported.

The Korea Broadcasting System quoted the prime minister as saying before meeting with Chun that the Cabinet will have to take “moral and political” responsibilities in connection with recent incidents. He was reported to have mentioned the police torture case.

The case involved Park Chong Chul, a university student activist who died in January while being questioned about another dissident student.

On Monday, it was announced that prosecutors were questioning five top police commanders in connection with a possible cover-up.