A television screen shows an image of South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-Won at Jindo harbour where relatives of family members of the 'Sewol' ferry are waiting for delvelopments in the search and recovery operations, on April 27, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said.
"I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign."
The Sewol, a large passenger ferry, capsized with 476 people -- many of them schoolchildren -- on board when it was en route to the southern resort island of Jeju on April 16.
The confirmed death toll from the tragedy stood Sunday at 187, with 115 unaccounted for.
The government, along with almost all other branches of officialdom, has come in for fierce criticism over the disaster, and the handling of the rescue operation.
"The latest accident left all South Koreans in great shock and sorrow. (Many) days have passed since the accident, but the screams of families of the missing still keep me up at night," Chung told a nationally-televised press conference.
"Dear South Koreans, this is no time to point fingers at each other but a time to complete rescue operations and properly handle its aftermath. I plead with you to help overcome this difficult situation.
"I sincerely hope that South Koreans and families of the Sewol victims will forgive and understand me for being unable to fulfil my obligations until the end. I beg you once again to rally support (for rescue operations)."
Although all hope of finding survivors has been extinguished, there is still anger and deep frustration among relatives of the missing over the pace of the recovery operation.
All 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are now in custody and face charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.
The official probe has focused on a long delay by the ship's captain in issuing the evacuation order, as well as on the ferry's overloaded cargo and possible inaccuracies in the passenger headcount.
Prosecutors have raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management.
The widening investigation has also seen travel bans put on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping -- the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.
"I wanted to resign earlier but handling the situation was the first priority and I thought that it was a responsible act to help before leaving," said Chung.
"But I've decided to resign now not to be any burden on the administration," he said.
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The respect culture could not flourish in Pakistan even the self-serving holy cows are no exception! Thousands of Pakistanis were massacred but it did not bother almighty dictator Musharraf and he kept on sticking with the Presidency. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and not even a constable was suspended. PNS Mehran was attacked and most expensive PC3 Orion was destroyed but then Naval Chief Admiral Nauman Bashir didn't resign but dared to ride on luxury BMW on taxpayers money. PAF Base Kamra was attacked but the Air Chief didn't bother to resign. Even GHQ was attacked in highly fortressed city of Rawalpindi but nobody resigned, not even the low ranking security guards. Our politicians are not holy in Pakistan and are already open to public criticism. Therefore, there is not much to be said about them.
@Muslim Leaguer: That's why Sheikh Rasheed is not taken seriously in Pakistan. Even the Canadian government has declined his request for visit. He has been enjoying Ministership for 10 years under different governments and every time he dumped his recent mentor. He can appear only on low-rated channels. "You can't fool all the people all the time" -- Abraham Lincoln
Sri Lankan cricket team, during their visit to Pakistan in its hour of need, were welcomed with bullets instead of petals. Not a single resignation. No one took responsibility of failure after showing the world that you will get shot at in return for your gesture of good will.
It reminds us of a similar incident in 2006, when a South Korean Minister resigned due to a train accident. On the other hand, when the then Railway Minister in Pakistan was asked by the media to resign on moral grounds,his historic response was, "Why should I resign? Was I the driver of the train that met accident?". The joker was no other than Sheikh Rasheed who still lectures on morality appearing on different TV channels everyday!
Our prime minister should have shown some courtesy to go to the South Korean embassy in Islamabad to show concern at this difficult time with South Koreans. When it is time to beg money our rulers always find time avail the opportunity. Shameful
I wish our leaders could learn from this Specially Imran Khan ........ he is clearly losing respect day by day.
Thousands of people get killed every year in Pakistan due to Drones, Suicide attacks, bomb blasts, gang wars and target killings. None of our officials have taken the responsibility to step down from their office on prevention failures.
in Pakistan the prime minster would've towed away this ship to his foundry and made the money.
@ Hunnia Iftikhar: This has nothing to do with Islam. There are no such examples in the history of Islamic caliphs/ rulers in arabia or elsewhere.
S Korea and it's PM deserve some Kudos - take guts to admit you made a mistake and step down from office. . This ferry had a sister ship in Japan (operated by same S Korean company) which also turned over a number of years back -- fortunately it was only carrying 29 people and the crew stayed around and safely evacuated all of them. Japan subsequently implemented safety rules mandating securing cargo. Owners clearly knew that this Ferry had stability issues and apparently did nothing to fix --- even added additional cabins up top which made it even less stable. Further - inspection records of yet another Ferry operated by this Company reveal that most of the lifeboats, the emergency evacuation ramp, and the cargo securing equipment didn't work. Clear indication that safety should have been higher priority to operator and govt. PM was correct in resigning ... now they should go after the owner/operator.
Pakistani ministers should learn and see the example put forward by the Prime Minister of South Korea. Non-Muslim countries tend to follow the principles of Islam given for governance. I fail to understand which set of rules and principles do our minsters follow.
Pakistani ministers should learn how to be a ruler from them. They truly follow the principles given by Islam. I fail to understand which principles do most of our politicians follow.
I request ET to send a copy of this news to our brave politicians..!
Deeply touched. Ashamed to be a Pakistani - where rulers have no regard for the lives of the ruled.
Why resign? Instead of fixing the problems he's resigning? He should take the opportunity and push for safety laws and regulations to be more strictly followed. South Korea also has people dying or disabled or badly hurt because traffic and construction safety are not followed either. PUSH FOR SAFETY!! I think Pakistan needs to same thing. Learn from the mistakes already made and stop making your own versions of the same mistake. Human life is a gift stop wasting it.
Shahbaz sharif should resign over the balloon fire episode , now a victim has even died .
In Korea president is the real deal, PM is just a figurehead The president has used the PM as scapegoat to save her skin.
I don't get it... I instead of fixing the problems he's resigning! Why doesn't he take this opportunity and push public safety laws more seriously. I'm sorry I find this completely unacceptable. He's fleeing just like the Captain on the ship.
O gosh here US marines landed in the heart of garrison city, found world's most wanted terrorist hiding there,conducted their operation and fled in safety and surety and nobody resigned for the upkeep of dignity
In Pakistan how many PRIME MINITERS/MINISTER have resigned for the death citizens of PAKISTAN?
One word. Respect.
Now this is what we call responsibility and honesty. hundreds of people killed in Karachi due to negligence of law enforcement agencies and government officials, but no one take responsibility.