Yoon's aides, PM offer to resign over election defeat

Presidential Chief of Staff Lee Kwan-sup (left) and Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations Lee Do-woon (right) enter the briefing room at the presidential office in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol's aides and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo offered to step down from their posts, as the vote count on Thursday showed that the ruling conservative bloc took a landslide defeat in Wednesday's parliamentary elections.

According to a source from the presidential office who declined to be named, Prime Minister Han "verbally expressed his intention to resign" to Yoon.

Key aides who directly report to Yoon -- Chief of Staff Lee Kwan-sup and Director of National Policy Sung Tae-yoon -- also offered to step down.

So did all senior presidential secretaries: Park Chun-sup, senior secretary for economic affairs; Han O-sub, senior secretary for political affairs; Jang Sang-yoon, senior secretary for social affairs; Park Sang-ook, senior presidential secretary for science and technology; and Lee Do-woon, senior secretary for public relations.

Yoon in March accepted the resignation of Hwang Sang-moo, senior secretary for civil society, over controversial remarks in a private lunch meeting with reporters.

Chang Ho-jin, chief of the presidential National Security Office, will stay in his post, according to Yoon's office.

"President Yoon said he would humbly accept the election defeat and put in his best efforts to change course in national affairs and stabilize people's livelihoods," Chief of Staff Lee told reporters at the presidential office in Seoul Thursday.

The Yoon administration will closely coordinate and communicate with the opposition bloc for legislation related to people's livelihoods, according to the presidential office.