Cheong Wa Dae refuses controversial aide's offer to resign

A Blue House official under fire for sexist remarks was asked to stay on until after the scheduled summit with North Korea in Pyongyang later this year, following his offer to resign over the weekend.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok declined to accept the resignation of presidential protocol aide Tak Hyun-min, who offered to leave his post on Saturday via Facebook and text messages to reporters.

While Tak is considered to have played a major role in promoting the government’s political initiatives such as the inter-Korean summit in April, opposition parties and women‘s advocacy groups have been criticizing him over his sexist and misogynic remarks published in books he wrote a decade ago.

“I will let you go when the first snow falls,” Im was quoted as saying by presidential spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom. “We have important events coming up this fall, such as the inter-Korean summit… I’m hoping we can work at least until then.” 

Tak Hyun-min. Yonhap

The presidential spokesperson said he was not aware of how Tak responded to Im’s request to stay. The spokesperson added Cheong Wa Dae will not accept Tak’s offer to resign.

In an interview with local daily, Tak said he had first expressed his intent to leave after the K-pop concert in Pyongyang, but presidential chief of staff Im asked him to stay until the inter-Korean summit held on April 27.