[Anchor]

While ministerial nominee Yong Hae-in is refusing to follow convention and insisting on maintaining her proportional representation lawmaker seat, calls have emerged even within the ruling party for her to choose between being a minister and a lawmaker. Criticisms are also rising that this exposes the structural flaws of satellite parties.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Yong Hae-in, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, made her first commute to an office set up in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, to prepare for her confirmation hearing.

When asked whether she would resign from her proportional representation lawmaker seat, she repeatedly stated that she would thoroughly prepare for the hearing.

[Yong Hae-in / Nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family: I am well aware that a confirmation hearing is not simply a space where I speak alone, but a space to communicate with the public. I will prepare well for the hearing.]

However, demands that she must resign as a proportional representation lawmaker in order to perform her ministerial duties have poured in even from the ruling party.

They argue that "concurrently holding the positions of lawmaker and minister cannot but be viewed as excessive privilege and greed, which especially the younger generation cannot tolerate and which could trigger social conflict over fairness issues."

[Park Sun-won / Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party: The next 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 maintaining her lawmaker seat is related to state subsidies for political parties.

[Park Chong-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 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 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 is both a parliamentary party and has surpassed the threshold of "0.5 percent of the vote in nationwide elections," enabling it to receive roughly 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 Nominee Yong's proportional lawmaker seat—if she resigns from her lawmaker seat, the Basic Income Party's subsidies will drop to zero starting the next quarter.

Regarding concerns from women's circles over the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers—a policy Nominee Yong has supported—she emphasized that she will broadly listen to voices from the field and closely consult with relevant ministries to ensure that victims' rights and interests are not infringed upon.

(Camera reporting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu | Design: Yang Gi-tae)