Controversy over a conservative newspaper’s report that the prosecutor general fathered a son in an extramarital affair in 2002 is not dying down, even though he tendered his resignation. On the contrary, it is being fueled by the decision he made while reaffirming his claim that the news report was groundless.

Chae Dong-wook, prosecutor general, offered to resign when the Ministry of Justice said on Friday that it would look into the case. He apparently believed that an investigation by the ministry would make it impossible for him to conduct his duties properly.

“It would be inappropriate for the chief of the prosecution to supervise prosecutors if he was targeted for an internal investigation even for a single day,” he said.

His offer to resign came one day after he said he would file a lawsuit against the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo for defamation while promising to take a paternity test. He said, “Once again, I would like to say that the report on my personal matters was completely groundless.”

The controversy over the news report is no longer a matter concerning the daily and Chae alone, with allegations being made that those close to President Park Geun-hye pulled strings to remove him from his post.

The presidential chief of staff, the justice minister and the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs were rumored to be irked by an intensive investigation into a case involving the National Intelligence Service, which the prosecution had been conducting under Chae’s supervision. The spy agency is accused of interfering in the 2012 presidential election.

The progressive Hankyoreh daily reported on Saturday that the office of the senior presidential secretary put pressure on Chae to resign by presenting the boy’s blood type to the Supreme Prosecutors Office as evidence shortly after the Chosun Ilbo came out with the report on Sept. 6. If true, the Hankyoreh report will undoubtedly give rise to a conflict between the presidential office and the main opposition Democratic Party, which accused the justice minister of conspiring to thwart the prosecution’s investigation by seeking to oust Chae.

To settle his dispute with the Chosun Ilbo, Chae will do well to go ahead with his plan to sue the newspaper and take a DNA test. Otherwise, suspicions will be raised that he has been lying all this time.

For its part, the presidential office is faced with a double whammy. It will have to hold itself accountable for making false accusations if Chae proves not to be the boy’s biological father and, if he is found to have been lying, for conducting a shoddy background check before he was appointed prosecutor general pending approval from the legislature.

But the matter is not confined to determining who is right or wrong. The case, if proven to have involved the presidential office as well as the justice minister and the prosecutor general, will have enormous political implications. That is the reason why the National Assembly will have to look into it and take appropriate measures in accordance with its findings.