A spokesman for the ruling Grand National Party’s Seoul mayoral candidate Na Kyung-won resigned over the weekend after being accused of appearing on a live TV debate show while intoxicated.

“I offered to resign because I didn’t want to be a burden to Na,” Shin Ji-ho, a GNP lawmaker and chief press official on Na’s campaign team, told the Yonhap news agency.

The party’s chief campaigner, Rep. Kwon Young-jin, said Shin’s offer of resignation was accepted.

Shin came under fire after appearing on broadcaster MBC’s “100-Minute Debate” program as one of the two Na supporters against two representatives of opposition candidate Park Won-soon’s camp.

During the program, which was aired live this past midnight Thursday, Shin often missed the topics.

Shin later admitted that he had drunk more than eight glasses of boilermakers with reporters about three hours before appearing on the TV show.

A newspaper claimed that Shin, during the dinner and booze session, insisted on drinking boilermakers, saying he speaks better when drunk.

“We apologize for causing public concerns. Na and the entire camp staff pledge to act more responsibly from now on,” Kwon said.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)