[Anchor]
Criticism is mounting against Yong Hye-in, nominee for the Minister of Gender Equality and Family, who has stated her intention to serve as both minister and proportional representative. The opposition parties are keeping up a relentless offensive, raising suspicions that nominee Yong previously operated in a secret faction within the Labor Party and attacking the Basic Income Party as a "family party."
Reporter Kim Jin-u has the details.
[Reporter]
This morning (Sept. 3), as nominee Yong Hye-in, a proportional representative of the Basic Income Party, entered the confirmation hearing preparation office building, members of the progressive Future Party staged a surprise protest demanding her resignation.
[Since when did the Basic Income Party become an establishment party?]
Someone even threw multiple sheets of A4 paper.
[Representative Yong Hye-in, step down!]
The ruling People Power Party sharply criticized Yong's intention to hold both ministerial and parliamentary positions, claiming "money" is the motivation.
[Jang Dong-hyeok / Leader, People Power Party: The reason nominee Yong refuses to resign from her proportional representative seat is also obvious. It is because the salary for not only her spouse but also the organization would be cut off.]
If nominee Yong concurrently holds the positions of minister and lawmaker, she would only receive the higher of the two salaries.
However, the argument is that she insists on holding both positions because stepping down as a lawmaker would mean losing office operating expenses and subsidies for the Basic Income Party.
The People Power Party launched an offensive claiming that over the remaining 21 months of Yong's term as a lawmaker, about 4.3 billion won in taxpayer funds will be provided, including 1.1 billion won for aide labor costs, about 1.9 billion won in regular political party subsidies, and around 1 billion won in general election subsidies two years later.
They also targeted the fact that Yong's spouse, who serves as the deputy secretary-general for strategic planning of the Basic Income Party, receives around 3 million won per month in party staff salary, claiming it is a "family party" that divides up key party positions among relatives.
Suspicions were also raised that before founding the Basic Income Party, Yong and her husband belonged to the Labor Party and social organizations, operating in an "underground organization," a term referring to secret activist factions.
[Shin Dong-wuk / Lawmaker, People Power Party: Behind the Labor Party and youth labor organizations, there was an 'underground organization' that trained activists aiming for communist revolution and deployed them to open organizations.]
On the other hand, the Progressive Party commented that the hatred offensives against the Basic Income Party, including outdated red-baiting, have crossed the line, demanding an immediate halt to hate disguised as verification.
(Photo: Yonhap News / Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan, Video editing: Oh Young-taek, Design: Park Cheon-woong and Yang Gi-tae, Photo courtesy of Representative Kim So-hee of the People Power Party)
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