Fresh blow to Park Geun-hye as South Korea PM nominee withdraws bid
Resignation of nominee for prime minister over controversial comments over Japan issues further damages her already battered political image
President Park Geun-hye's waning political fortunes suffered another blow yesterday when her second nominee for prime minister was forced to withdraw over past remarks about Japanese colonial rule.
"I wanted to help President Park Geun-hye. But I believe that my resignation is the way to help her at this point," Moon Chang-keuk, 65, said.
"So today, I am giving up on my nomination for the prime ministership."
A political novice, the former journalist had been a surprise choice from the start, and his nomination swiftly became a political battleground because of past comments about Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
Park has had problems with several of her key political appointments, and Moon's withdrawal is a further blow at a time when her popularity ratings are already at their lowest ebb following the Sewol ferry disaster in April.
The prime minister's job fell open after incumbent Chung Hong-won resigned after savage public criticism of the government's response to the Sewol tragedy, which claimed about 300 lives, most of the victims schoolchildren.
Moon wasn't even Park's first choice. That was Ahn Dai-hee, a former Supreme Court justice who was forced to withdraw his nomination last month following controversy over income he amassed after leaving the bench and going into private practice.