SKorean education minister offers to quit

SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's education minister offered to resign Wednesday less than two weeks after taking office amid a series of allegations about his scholarly ethics, including plagiarism.

Kim Byong-joon, who is also one of the country's three deputy prime ministers, conveyed his intention to quit to President Roh Moo-hyun, said his spokesman Uhm Sang-hyun.

"I don't want to be a burden to the president as he manages state affairs," Kim was quoted as saying by the spokesman. Roh's office said it had no comment. Kim, 52, is considered one of Roh's favorite aides. He was chief policy aide to the president before being named the education minister last month.

Media have questioned his scholarly ethics since he took office July 21 with a series of allegations, including a claim that he plagiarized a paper from one of his graduate students when he was a professor of public administration at a Seoul university. Kim has strongly denied the allegations, but has been under growing pressure to quit.

Not only opposition parties, but also the ruling Uri Party has called for his resignation on concern that the scandal may further erode its already low popularity.

Seoul, Wednesday, AP