President Lee Myung-bak has accepted his defense minister's resignation offer meant to take responsibility for the alleged mishandling of North Korea's deadly artillery attack earlier this week, Lee's office said Thursday.
"In the afternoon today, President Lee decided to accept Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's intent to step down," presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee said in a quickly-arranged press briefing, Yonhap reported.
The move came amid growing public criticism that the military had fumbled its initial response to the North's sudden shelling of a front-line island near the highly tense Yellow Sea border. Ruling and opposition lawmakers openly called for the dismissal of the minister.
Yim said the government plans to announce Kim's replacement on Friday.