Trickster Parties and Yong Hae-in

South Korea’s proportional-representation ballot stretched to 48.1 centimeters in the 2020 general election, after 35 parties entered the race hoping to benefit from a new electoral system. The National Assembly had introduced a mixed-member proportional model to break the dominance of the two major parties and open the door to smaller groups.

The design appeared straightforward. Parties that won many constituency seats would receive fewer proportional seats than their vote share suggested. If the system worked as intended, much of the 47-seat proportional allocation would have gone to third parties and smaller political groups. Instead, the major parties created satellite parties devoted to winning proportional seats while keeping their constituency gains.

The result, the column argues, was an electoral loophole that the major parties used openly despite widespread criticism. Together, they took 281 of the Assembly’s 300 seats. The Democratic Party of Korea shared some positions on its satellite party’s proportional list with smaller parties in an effort to blunt criticism. Yong Hae-in of the Basic Income Party first entered the Assembly through that arrangement and won re-election four years later in the same way.

Yong, now nominated as a candidate for minister of gender equality and family, has said she will not surrender her parliamentary seat even if she takes office. Traditionally, proportional lawmakers stepped down when joining the cabinet, allowing the next person on the party list to replace them. Yong argues that her resignation would hand the seat to a Democratic Party figure listed next on the satellite party’s roster, leaving the Basic Income Party without a parliamentary presence.

The column rejects that as an explanation voters can accept, calling it an internal party concern. Without a seat in the Assembly, the party would lose more than 1 billion won in future state subsidies, as well as its parliamentary office and aides. It also faces criticism as a “family party” because Yong’s husband serves as its deputy director of strategic planning and reportedly receives about 3 million won a month. Questions have also been raised over alleged policy contracts paid with public funds. The party received 18.6 million won in youth employment subsidies from the labor ministry between 2023 and 2025, prompting criticism over whether a state-subsidized political party should use a program designed to support youth hiring by small businesses.

The writer says both major blocs also lent sitting lawmakers to satellite parties before the last two elections so those parties could receive tens of billions of won in state subsidies and finance their campaigns. Unless the system is fixed, the column warns, voters could face a third round of satellite-party maneuvering in two years.