ROK unification minister offers to resign on worsened relations with DPRK

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea's Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Wednesday offered to resign amid worsened relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to local media reports.

Kim told local reporters at a press room of the government complex in Seoul that he decided to step down as the chief of the unification ministry, in charge of inter-Korean affairs, to take responsibility for the worsening relations between the two Koreas.

He said he felt sorry for failing to meet demand and expectations of the ROK people who wish for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim, who took office in April last year, expressed his intention to resign earlier in the day to the presidential Blue House.

Relations between the ROK and the DPRK soured this month as Pyongyang protested against anti-DPRK leaflets flown across the inter-Korean border by ROK civic groups, mostly composed of defectors from the DPRK.

The DPRK on Tuesday demolished the inter-Korean liaison office in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, which was opened in September 2018 under an agreement signed by ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un after their first summit in April 2018 at the truce village of Panmunjom.