Yong Hye-in stays silent on allegations and defers dual-office question to confirmation hearing

Ministerial nominee Yong Hye-in offered no immediate answers on whether she would retain her proportional-representation parliamentary seat while serving in the Cabinet, saying she would address the issue at her confirmation hearing.

Yong made the comment while arriving at a preparation office in Seoul on the 7th. Reporters also asked whether she planned to complete the confirmation process, but she did not provide further details.

She remained silent about allegations tied to an alleged underground organization in which she is said to have participated. The group was described as operating behind the Socialist Party, the Labor Party, Alba Solidarity and the Young Left. Revelations have alleged that it tolerated discriminatory guidance, including positions on premarital chastity and opposition to abortion. The article also noted that many senior officials of the Basic Income Party currently overlap with people identified as members of the alleged organization.

Yong did not respond to a claim that someone else was the first organizer of the 2014 silent march linked to the Sewol ferry disaster, which has been described as the starting point of her political career. She also ignored questions about whether Kim Hyun-ji, the senior secretary in the presidential office’s first annex, was involved in her nomination, whether she now resembled the establishment she had criticized, and whether there were allegations she wanted to address directly.

Yong was nominated as minister of gender equality and family on the 30th. The date of her parliamentary confirmation hearing remains undecided.

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I will speak about it at the confirmation hearing.