Entire South Korean Cabinet Offers to Quit

South Korean Cabinet ministers tendered their resignations en masse today, a day after parliament passed a no-confidence motion against the minister in charge of North Korea policy.

Presidential spokesman Park Joon Young told reporters that the ministers offered to resign to take responsibility for the National Assembly vote to dismiss National Unification Minister Lim Dong Won.

Park did not make clear whether President Kim Dae Jung had accepted the resignations, but when asked when the president would reshuffle his Cabinet, Park said it would probably be done “this week.”

Monday’s vote against Lim was a blow to Kim and his troubled diplomacy with the North. Kim is not obliged by law to respect the 148-119 vote; however, Lim said after the vote that he would quit.

Kim’s so-called “sunshine” policy toward the North led to the first summit between leaders of the two Koreas and helped Kim 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 early success, opposition lawmakers accused the president and aides, including Lim, of yielding to North Korean appeals for aid and other concessions without demanding conciliatory gestures in return.

Opposition legislators cheered and clapped when the tally was announced. Ruling party lawmakers were silent.

Despite the vote, analysts said Kim is not likely to abandon his engagement policy with the North.