Head of Korea's financial watchdog offers to resign

The head of South Korea's financial regulator offered to step down from his post on Friday, the watchdog said, amid a personnel shake-up of government agencies by the presidential office. Gov. Kwon Hyeok-se, the chief of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), tendered his resignation to President Park Geun-hye, according to the watchdog.    His resignation came after President Park named Vice Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon as the nominee for Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman early this month. The FSS is the executive body of the policy-making FSC, and the head of the FSS is recommended by the FSC chairman and appointed by the president. But the FSC nominee apparently asked Kwon to keep his post until Shin's parliamentary confirmation hearing, FSS officials said. The FSS said it plans to hold a farewell ceremony for Kwon sometime next week, as soon as President Park accepts his resignation.