Ruling-party lawmaker urges Yong Hye-in to decide on resignation before confirmation hearing

Yong Hye-in is facing pressure to give up her proportional-representation seat before her confirmation hearing for minister of gender equality and family affairs.

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Many lawmakers are saying that the nominee should make a decision before the confirmation hearing.

Lee Soo-jin, the Democratic Party’s ruling-party secretary on the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee, said many lawmakers believed the nominee should make a decision before the hearing. Lee made the remarks during a KBS radio interview on the 7th, discussing the controversy over Yong holding both the ministerial nomination and her parliamentary seat.

Lee said the dispute was making it harder to see Yong’s expertise and the areas in which she had performed well. She added that the difficulties faced by minor parties had already been sufficiently raised, and urged Yong to consider the issue carefully and reach a judgment before the hearing.

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The position of minister must meet the standards expected by the Korean public and requires high moral standards and political responsibility.

“The position of minister must meet the standards expected by the Korean public and requires high moral standards and political responsibility,” Lee said. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won separately said that, judging from the issues emerging, the nominee could find it difficult to endure the process, although he added that the hearing itself would have to take place. Yong is a proportional-representation lawmaker from the Basic Income Party.

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Judging from the various issues emerging now, it will of course be difficult to endure, although we will have to hold the hearing.