"Golf Scandal" Fells Korean Air Force Chief

In America, a top officer screws up his slice of a war, and he gets a big promotion. In South Korea, a top officer plays golf on the wrong day, and he gets canned.

South Korea's air force chief of staff resigned Wednesday after local media criticized him for playing golf while the nation mourned the death of a South Korean soldier in Afghanistan," the AP reports.

"He teed off despite a verbal order from the defense minister for military officials to abstain from playing golf until the funeral of the soldier ended," the Korea Times notes. "The March 1st outing also fell on "a national holiday to commemorate the 1919 independence movement against Japanese colonial rule.

Okay, that wasn't Kim's only perceived sin. There was also the crash of a KF-16 fighter jet -- the 4th in the last thirteen years. But it seems like the golf game was the big faux pas.

Kim is not the first South Korean official forced to step down over an ill-timed round of golf.

Last year, Lee Hae-chan resigned as prime minister for golfing during a nationwide walkout by railway workers. He had been criticized the previous year for hitting the links during a wildfire and heavy rains.

(High five: PB)