Yong Hye-in Now Faces the Very Same Question She Posed to a Nominee 3 Years Ago

[Anchor]

Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, continues to repeat that she will address various allegations surrounding her only during the confirmation hearing. However, when she was a parliamentary confirmation committee member three years ago, her attitude was entirely different. Back then, when a ministerial nominee delayed explanations by saying she would "answer at the hearing," Yong fiercely criticized her, accusing her of running away.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the story.

[Reporter]

Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, made her first commute to the confirmation preparation office on the 2nd.

She took questions from reporters for about 10 minutes, but starting the next day, she stopped answering questions altogether regarding whether she would resign from her lawmaker position. Regarding various allegations, she has only repeated brief responses that she will clarify them at the National Assembly confirmation hearing.

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family (Yesterday): (Do you still maintain the same stance on holding your parliamentary seat concurrently?) ......]

Three years ago, when she was a freshman lawmaker, Nominee Yong served as a member of the National Assembly confirmation committee for then-Ministry of Gender Equality and Family ministerial nominee Kim Haeng.

At the time, when nominee Kim halted her doorstep Q&A sessions after five days amid a barrage of allegations, Yong criticized her sharply.

[Yong Hye-in / Then Confirmation Committee Member for Gender Equality and Family Minister Nominee (September 2023): Nominee Kim has even halted her doorstep Q&A sessions, saying she will 'explain everything at the confirmation hearing.' We have no choice but to interpret this as running away because she is unable to clear herself of the suspicions.]

Regarding suspicions that her former party, the Labor Party, had an internal clandestine organization—an so-called "underground organization"—with discriminatory guidelines such as bans on abortion or premarital chastity, Nominee Yong has stated the following:

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family (Yesterday): (What was the reason you condoned the discriminatory guidelines of the 'underground organization'?) I will speak about it at the hearing.]

However, when she was a confirmation committee member in the past, she launched fierce criticism using past remarks made by then-nominee Kim regarding sexual self-determination.

[Yong Hye-in / Then Confirmation Committee Member for Gender Equality and Family Minister Nominee (September 2023): (Nominee Kim) showed a abysmal perception of women's sexual self-determination by stating that 'tolerance is needed to accept even an unwanted pregnancy.']

The ruling and opposition parties are currently coordinating to hold Nominee Yong's confirmation hearing on the 18th.

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family (Yesterday): (If you refuse to answer, isn't this no different from the privileged behavior you used to criticize?) ......]

(Camera reporting: Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan, Video editing: Jang Hyun-ki)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.