DP Also Tells Yong Hye-in to Choose One: Controversy Surrounds Satellite Party

[Anchor]

As Yong Hye-in, candidate for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, maintains her stance that she will not give up her proportional representation lawmaker seat, voices within the Democratic Party are also demanding that she choose only one role. Yong's Basic Income Party is facing unprecedented attention and sharp criticism.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the details.

[Reporter]

When asked yesterday (September 1) whether her position to maintain her proportional representation lawmaker seat remained unchanged, candidate Yong Hye-in responded as follows:


[Yong Hye-in / Candidate for Minister of Gender Equality and Family: (I was wondering if there has been any change in your stance.) Thank you for your hard work.]

Demands are pouring in even from the ruling party for her to follow the customary practice of passing the lawmaker seat on to the next candidate in line so they can share the opportunity and minimize any legislative vacancy, given that a proportional representation lawmaker is becoming a minister.

Critics point out that holding both the lawmaker and ministerial positions simultaneously is bound to be perceived as excessive privilege and greed that the younger generation cannot accept, which could trigger social conflicts over fairness issues.

[Park Sun-won / Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: The next person in line is usually already registered with the National Election Commission. I personally think it is only right to step down from the proportional representation seat.]

The People Power Party claimed that the reason for keeping the lawmaker seat is to secure party subsidies.

[Park Choong-kwon / Senior Spokesperson of the People Power Party: It is because the Basic Income Party would be reduced to an extra-parliamentary party and lose 1.1 billion won in taxpayer-funded subsidies.]

The Basic Income Party countered that while the People Power Party receives about 5 billion won in state subsidies every quarter, the Basic Income Party has received around 9 million won per quarter, and that its subsidies were increased this time after securing nearly 1 percent of the vote in the June 3 local elections.

The Basic Income Party currently serves as a party in parliament while also meeting the threshold of 0.5 percent vote share in a nationwide election, allowing it to receive around 270 million won in subsidies for the third quarter of this year.

However, due to the distorted structure of the proportional representation satellite party—where a Democratic Party figure would succeed Yong's lawmaker seat—if she resigns from her post, the Basic Income Party's subsidy would drop to zero starting the next quarter.

The Justice Party strongly criticized the situation, stating, "This structure itself is a bizarre outcome created by satellite party politics, which is a foul play against democracy," and adding, "There is no reason for citizens to cut them any slack."

(Camera reporting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki | Design: Yang Gi-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.