South Korea's prime minister offers to resign

South Korea's prime minister offered to resign Thursday after parliament shot down his efforts to scrap a plan that would relocate several government ministries out of the capital.

Chung Un-chan, an academic who was appointed in September, has led the charge to abandon the project, thought up by the previous liberal administration.

President Lee Myung-bak has said the plan to move more than half of the 15 government ministries from Seoul and a nearby city would waste taxpayer money and create inefficiencies.

The National Assembly, however, voted down Lee's push late last month, forcing him to start work on implementing the original plan that …