South Korea prime minister resigns

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo has resigned amid a high-level bribery scandal that has drawn public criticism against the government.

Lee, who has held his post for only two months, tendered his resignation late Monday, officials said Tuesday.

Several high-level officials in President Park Geun-hye’s administration are facing bribery allegations, and the president herself has vowed to punish the corrupt elements in her administration.

The scandal reached its climax after the suicide of a powerful South Korean businessman who claimed he had given money to the prime minister and several other close allies of the president.

The businessman, Sung Wan-jong, hanged himself in Seoul on April 9 after his construction company went bankrupt. In his pocket, police found a note that listed the names of eight people, including the prime minister, who allegedly received bribes from Sung. Before his death, in a newspaper interview, Sung claimed to have given Lee 30 million won (27,000 dollars) in cash in 2013, when he was running for a parliamentary seat.

President Park, who is in Peru on an official tour through South America until April 27, called Lee’s resignation “regrettable.”

“I find it regrettable. I also feel sympathy for the agony of the prime minister,” the president said in a written statement after being informed of Lee’s resignation.

Park’s decision on whether to accept the resignation or not will be announced in a few days.

Earlier, South Korea’s the main opposition party had said it would seek Lee’s impeachment over the bribery allegations.

Moon Jae-in, head of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), said Monday that his party would push ahead for a bill to force the premier to quit, and urged the ruling Saenuri Party to agree on a speedy parliamentary vote to resolve the scandal as soon as possible.