Yong Hye-in, Ministerial Nominee, Reported Over Allegations of Violating Political Funds Act Regarding "Husband's Salary"

Yong Hye-in, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, was reported today (the 3rd) for alleged violations of the Political Funds Act in connection with Basic Income Party dues.

Lee Jong-bae, former Seoul Metropolitan Council member from the People Power Party, announced that he filed a complaint against nominee Yong with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency this morning.

The purpose of the complaint is to request an investigation into suspected illegal political fund transactions regarding the payment details of special party dues for the Basic Income Party and the process by which Yong's husband, a party official surnamed Park, received his salary.

The former council member claimed that there are circumstances suggesting Yong appointed her spouse as a paid party official and then paid about 300 million won of political funds to the party as special dues, a portion of which was allegedly reverted to her spouse as salary.

The former council member stated, "According to the political funds income and expenditure details submitted by nominee Yong to the National Election Commission for 2020–2024, a total of 503,959,785 won in political funds was used, of which 293.6 million won (58.3%) was reverted to the party in the form of special party dues."

He added, "If the special party dues format was utilized for the purpose of providing economic benefits to her spouse, it could be evaluated as a disbursement of political funds for an 'unauthorized purpose,' potentially violating Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the Political Funds Act."

Nominee Yong was also reported the previous day to the Seocho Citizens' Livelihood Countermeasures Committee, a conservative civic group, on charges of abuse of power and violation of the Public Official Election Act.

The accusation stems from claims that nominee Yong and her family used the VIP lounge at Gimpo International Airport before leaving for a trip to Jeju Island on March 9, 2023, thereby violating the Korea Airports Corporation operation bylaws that restrict VIP lounge usage strictly to official duties.

Additionally, the complaint took issue with a video filmed and uploaded to social media (SNS) last May ahead of the June 3 local elections, in front of the campaign office of Basic Income Party candidate Park in Gwangsan-gu, Jeonnam-Gwangju Unified City, while she wore apparel printed with the Basic Income Party name, arguing it violated the Public Official Election Act.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.