Yong Hye-in Refuses to Step Down, Insisting Dual Roles Are "Permitted by Law"… 63% View Nomination as "Wrong"

[Anchor]

Yong Hye-in, the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family who has been engulfed in various controversies, held an emergency press conference today (Sept. 10). She drew a clear line against calls for her voluntary resignation, repeatedly stating her position that she will concurrently serve as a proportional representative lawmaker and a minister, citing that the law allows it. While she intends to push straight through the confirmation hearing, concerns have emerged within the ruling camp.

Our first report comes from reporter Kim Jin-woo.

[Reporter]

Nominee Yong Hye-in for Minister of Gender Equality and Family had previously avoided Q&A sessions with reporters on her way to work, stating she would explain various controversies and suspicions during her confirmation hearings.

This afternoon (Sept. 10), she called an unscheduled press conference at the National Assembly and spent over 30 minutes passionately offering explanations and rebuttals.

Her conclusion was that she would give up neither her lawmaker seat nor the ministerial post.

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family: The concurrent holding of a National Assembly member position and a State Council member position is permitted by law as a principle. We must look back on whether the custom of resigning from a proportional representative seat was conceived as a way of dividing spoils among politicians.]

Regarding criticisms that she is clinging to her lawmaker position because of party subsidies for the Basic Income Party, she fired back, calling the People Power Party a "parasitic party" that received tens of billions of won in state subsidies while acting as a gatekeeper for the ringleader of an insurrection. She also expressed dissatisfaction with criticisms coming from the Democratic Party.

[Yong Hye-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family: I feel regrettable that even a faction within the Democratic Party tends to get swept up in groundless speculation and malicious agitation.]

In response to criticisms that it is a "family party" because her spouse holds a party position, she pushed back, asking what is wrong with a 40-year-old worker receiving an average monthly wage of 2.5 million won. She also claimed that allegations such as "funneling work to close aides" or "ghost provincial chapters" were groundless speculations.

By sticking to her "my-way" approach despite successive controversies and suspicions erupting over the 11 days since her nomination as a ministerial candidate, she has drawn critical reactions from both the ruling and opposition parties.

The People Power Party urged President Lee to withdraw the nomination, calling it a "deception of the public and a case of the offender acting as if they were the victim."

The Democratic Party did not issue an official response, but cold reactions within the party were common, such as "She should have at least expressed regret" or "It feels like she is telling the presidential office not to withdraw her nomination because she has no problems at all."

In the NBS opinion poll released today, 63 percent of respondents answered that the nomination of nominee Yong was a "wrong appointment," while 17 percent answered it was a "good appointment."

Regarding nominee for Justice Minister Kim Seung-won, 47 percent considered it a "wrong appointment" and 24 percent considered it a "good appointment."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan, and Kim Yong-woo | Video by Nam Il | Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung and Yang Gi-tae
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.