[Anchor]
Lawmaker Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party ultimately chose to safeguard her parliamentary seat, giving up the ministerial nomination. Lawmaker Yong's excessive ambition to hold both positions simultaneously has once again laid bare the abnormal problem of "satellite parties" deeply entrenched in our party politics.
Reporting by Park Jae-yeon.
[Reporter]
A day after Basic Income Party's sole lawmaker Yong Hye-in stepped down yesterday (the 13th) as the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, a leadership meeting of the Basic Income Party was held today.
Lawmaker Yong attended alongside Supreme Council member Park Ki-hong, who is her spouse.
When asked about criticisms that her resignation was "belated," Lawmaker Yong kept her remarks brief.
[Yong Hye-in / Basic Income Party Lawmaker: I already expressed my position through yesterday's press conference.]
After Lawmaker Yong stepped down—having previously argued why a proportional representative lawmaker cannot concurrently serve as a minister—the Basic Income Party put forward a proposal to legally ban all members of the National Assembly, including constituency lawmakers, from concurrently serving as ministers.
Within the Democratic Party, criticisms also emerged that failing to clearly resolve the issue of concurrent offices in advance before nominating Lawmaker Yong was a tactical blunder.
[Kim Eui-ghem / Democratic Party Lawmaker (KBS 1 Radio 'Special Current Affairs'): (Regarding Lawmaker Yong Hye-in) The issue of concurrently holding ministerial and parliamentary posts should have been reviewed in advance. A review of the personnel line is necessary.]
Voices are growing louder calling to take this opportunity to overhaul the distorted party politics structure of "satellite parties," which has been exposed once again through the controversy surrounding Lawmaker Yong.
The background that allowed Lawmaker Yong to secure a rare feat in politics as a "consecutive proportional representative lawmaker twice" and the situation where relinquishing her parliamentary seat in accordance with custom would result in a Democratic Party figure—rather than one from the Basic Income Party—succeeding the proportional seat are both rooted in the "satellite party structure."
In 2020, the "semi-linked proportional representation system" was introduced under the pretext of expanding opportunities for minor parties to enter parliament. However, as the two major parties resorted to the expedient method of creating "satellite parties," the original intent of the system was undermined, and criticism that it distorts public sentiment is now fierce.
The Justice Party raised its voice, stating, "The problem does not disappear just because Lawmaker Yong, who became a lawmaker through a satellite party, has resigned from the ministerial nomination," and added, "The 'institutional hacking' of creating satellite parties to trade legislative seats must not be repeated."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Yu Mi-ra | Design: Lee Jong-jung)
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