ROK official offers to quit over military pact

A senior security aide to Republic of Korea President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday offered to step down over the controversy surrounding its move to sign the first military pact with Japan since the end of World War II, local media reported.

Kim Tae-hyo, a senior presidential secretary for national security strategy, is believed to have played a major role in seeking to forge the pact, called the General Security of Military Information Agreement, with the country's former colonial occupier.

The pact would allow the two sides to exchange military intelligence on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and its nuclear and missile programs, which supporters say will boost the ROK's intelligence capabilities.