South Korean minister resigns after two days

The South Korean Justice Minister has become the country's shortest-serving cabinet minister.

Ahn Dong-soo resigned after two days in office following a row about promises made in his draft acceptance speech.

Opposition parties called for his dismissal because he had pledged allegiance to President Kim Dae-jung ahead of his public duties.

Mr Ahn never delivered the speech and later claimed it was only an internal memo.

Mr Kim's press secretary Park Joon-young said the minister had resigned to prevent him from becoming a liability to the president.

He said: "The problem was not whether he made the pledge of allegiance in question or not, but the public impression was that he was lying", according to reports.