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British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that he would not resign over the suicide of David Kelly, a British Defense Ministry weapons expert.
In an interview with Britain's Sky News television, Blair said he would "absolutely" stay in office, but would accept responsibility if a probe into Kelly's death finds any wrongdoing of his government. He also rejected calls to cut short his Asia visit.
"In the end, the government is my responsibility," Blair said. But he rejected the idea of resignation. "You've got to have broad shoulders in this job. I've got them," he said.
Blair arrived in Seoul Sunday afternoon and was to hold a summit meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun later Sunday.
High on the agenda of the summit is reported to be the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and ways to promote cooperation between the two countries.
Before the summit, Blair will visit a plant of Samsung Electronic Co., the Asian country's largest chip maker.
It is Blair's second visit to Seoul since 2000 when he attended a summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Blair, 50, is the first British prime minister to visit South Korean twice.
Blair arrived in Seoul from Tokyo. After he winds up his seven-hour working visit in Seoul, the prime minister will depart for Beijing Sunday evening.
On Saturday, the British government announced that it would establish an urgent independent inquiry by a senior judge, after the police confirmed the death of Kelly.
"The death of Dr. David Kelly is shocking and tragic. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family. It is only right that we do our utmost to establish the full circumstances surrounding this tragedy," British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a statement.
"Accordingly, the government has invited ... Lord Hutton urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Kelly," Hoon said.
"The government will provide Lord Hutton with the fullest cooperation and expects all other authorities and parties to do the same," he said. "It will be for Lord Hutton to decide how to conduct the inquiry and the extent to which it is held in private or public."
Kelly, 59, who was suspected to be the source of a BBC report that officials working for Blair had exaggerated Iraq's weapons capacity in order to make a stronger case for the US-led war against Iraq, was found dead after apparently slashing his own wrist.
Kelly's death came after he was questioned by a parliamentary committee over whether he was the source of the BBC report that has led to the rumbling row over the British government's intelligence on Iraq.
Two parliamentary committees are investigating Blair's office's handling of intelligence on Iraq.
Speaking to the BBC, Hoon said Saturday he took the welfare of all his staff seriously but did not accept that he had put pressure on Kelly directly.
Local reports said the coming judicial inquiry was expected to take a matter of weeks not months.
(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2003)
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