"Education on Pre-marital Chastity and Abortion Bans? Yong Hye-in Must Answer Directly"

[Anchor]

Allegations have been raised that severe gender-discriminatory culture existed within a clandestine underground organization of the Labor Party, to which nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family Yong Hye-in previously belonged. Some activists who worked alongside Yong urged that she and her husband were key figures in that underground organization and must address this issue.

Reporter Kim Bo-mi has the details.

[Reporter]

Back in 2018, an issue involving a so-called underground organization surfaced within the minor progressive Labor Party.

Through its own fact-finding investigation at the time, the Labor Party revealed that an unpublicized underground organization within the party, centered around leaders from activist backgrounds, exerted influence not only over the Labor Party but also over groups such as the Youth Union and Youth Left. In particular, it was revealed that they provided anti-women ideological education to female activists, such as bans on abortion and pre-marital chastity.

Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, served as the representative of Youth Left in 2018 when the controversy escalated, and her husband was a former representative.

Yong also served as the representative of the Labor Party in 2019.

The "Underground Organization Culture Interview Collection," which compiled testimonies from victimized members at the time, contains accounts that a gender-discriminatory culture was widespread. Leaders told female activists not to get married while advising men that they needed women to manage their lives, and referred to married women supporting male activists as "defensive struggles."

[Woo Sae-ha / Former Ulsan Chapter Head, Youth Union (Underground Organization Activist): Comments were made like someone's legs are so pretty, or do not wear skirts. The chief director, person A, would say things like, I will sleep together in a certain female member's room. It was extremely uncomfortable, indeed.]

Some activists who previously worked with Yong criticized that both Yong and her husband were core figures of the underground organization at the time and had a voice and influence, yet overlooked or condoned such gender discrimination issues.

[Kim Yun-young / Former Women's Committee Chairperson, Labor Party: Feeling a tremendous sense of frustration about someone who condoned it becoming a candidate for Gender Equality Minister...]

[Woo Sae-ha / Former Ulsan Chapter Head, Youth Union (Underground Organization Activist): Given that nearly half or more of the surrounding figures forming the Basic Income Party were members of the underground organization back then...]

In particular, they argued that as a nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family—who intends to change the gender discrimination culture of a nation—she must clarify this issue. Yong's camp stated, "We will answer during the personnel hearing."

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family: (Do you have no plans to explain before the hearing?) ......]

(Camera: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing: Oh Young-taek | Design: Park Taeyoung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.