Minister resigns over power cuts

Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung informed the president of his intention to step down on Tuesday, the ministry said.

According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Choi expressed his intention to step down to President Lee Myung-bak after the cabinet meeting Tuesday morning and hand in his resignation within the day.

The decision comes in the wake of calls for Choi to take responsibility for the power outage on Sept. 15.

Since the incident, Choi has been at the top of politicians’ lists of those who should assume responsibility.

Cheong Wa Dae had also added its weight to calls for Choi’s resignation. Unnamed sources in the presidential office have been quoted as saying that there was an agreement at a meeting presided over by Yim Tae-hee, the presidential chief of staff, that Choi should take responsibility.

In response, Choi had commented that he would take steps to address the causes of the power outage and that he would act without being “attached to the position.”

On Sept. 15, unseasonable heat drove up electricity consumption far beyond the authorities’ projections, forcing Korea Power Exchange to implement a rolling blackout lasting 30 minutes in some areas as power consumption overshot the projected 64 million kilowatts by more than 3 million kilowatts. In addition, 23 generators going into scheduled maintenance also contributed to the power shortage.

With the KPX limiting power supply, hundreds of thousands of households across the country experienced blackouts while some industrial complexes were brought to a standstill.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)