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Yong Hye-in Deflects Questions About Resigning as Lawmaker as Ruling Party Doubts Grow
🇰🇷 South Korea /Elections & Politics

Yong Hye-in Deflects Questions About Resigning as Lawmaker as Ruling Party Doubts Grow

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Gender Equality and Family ministerial nominee Yong Hye-in declined to say whether she would give up her proportional-representation seat, saying she would prepare for the confirmation hearing.
  • Democratic Party lawmakers publicly urged her to resign, arguing that previous proportional lawmakers appointed to ministerial posts had done so.
  • Some ruling-party lawmakers also questioned whether Yong could appeal to voters in their 20s and 30s and criticized the circumstances of her nomination.

Yong Hye-in arrived at her confirmation-hearing preparation office in Seoul and refused to give a direct answer when asked whether she would resign her parliamentary seat.

I know that a confirmation hearing is not simply a place where I speak alone, but a place to communicate with the public.

— Yong Hye-inThe ministerial nominee responded to calls for her resignation as a lawmaker.

Yong, the nominee for minister of Gender Equality and Family, has caused controversy by saying she intends to hold the ministerial post while retaining her proportional-representation seat from the Basic Income Party. Asked whether she planned to choose between the two positions, she repeatedly referred to the upcoming hearing.

“I know that a confirmation hearing is not simply a place where I speak alone, but a place to communicate with the public,” Yong said. “I will prepare well for the confirmation hearing so that we can exchange many views.” She added that she would organize her thoughts and communicate them clearly during the process, without saying whether she would resign.

I will prepare well for the confirmation hearing so that we can exchange many views.

— Yong Hye-inYong avoided directly answering whether she would give up her parliamentary seat.

Calls for her resignation spread among lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party. Lee Kwang-jae said Yong should give up her seat if she wanted to become a minister, arguing that doing so would reflect a younger political style and align with the philosophy of someone who had advocated basic income. Kim Young-bae said all proportional lawmakers appointed to ministerial positions since Han Myeong-sook’s time had surrendered their seats, and that resigning would better match public expectations.

If she wants to become a minister this time, it would be better for her to resign as a lawmaker.

— Lee Kwang-jaeThe Democratic Party lawmaker publicly urged Yong to surrender her proportional seat.

Other ruling-party figures questioned the nomination itself. Song Young-gil asked how much appeal Yong could have among people in their 20s and 30s simply because someone from their generation had been selected as a minister. He also questioned whether the appointment was fair and suggested she had received repeated preferential treatment. His remarks were interpreted as suggesting that Yong could struggle to pass the confirmation process.

How much appeal can she have among people in their 20s and 30s just because someone from their generation was appointed as a minister?

— Song Young-gilThe lawmaker questioned whether Yong’s nomination would resonate with younger voters.
About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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