SEOUL - South Korea's prime minister nominee Ahn Dai-hee offered Wednesday to resign as a candidate for the No. 2 government post amid mounting criticism over his excessive salary as a lawyer in the past, Yonhap News Agency and YTN reported.

Ahn, 59, the former Supreme Court justice, was named by President Park Geun-hye on May 22 to become a new prime minister as the incumbent offered to step down to take responsibility for last month's ferry sinking disaster.

The nominee served as a lawyer at a law firm for five months, and earned 1.6 billion won (1.57 million US dollars) during the five-month period.

Ahn has been under harsh criticism from opposition parties for his exorbitant salary, which critics say was granted as the privilege from his former post as a Supreme Court justice.

Amid the growing criticism, Ahn decided to donate 1.1 billion won after subscribing 0.5 billion won in the past to charitable work.

He was also blamed for a 0.3 billion won donation just three days before being nominated as the prime minister. It was viewed by critics as an advance work to be named for the post.

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won has offered to resign after apologizing for the sinking of the ferry Sewol, which capsized and sank off the southwestern coast on April 16, but President Park has delayed the acceptance of his resignation to allow him to engage in handling the maritime accident.

So far 288 people have been confirmed dead in the boat sinking disaster, with 16 others still missing. Two thirds of the 476 passengers aboard the ill-fated ship were high school students on the way for a class trip.