Yong Hye-in, nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, was found to have argued for the abolition of state subsidies six years ago, comparing political parties receiving state subsidies to parasites.

In February 2020, the Basic Income Party posted a press statement and photos on its official website titled "Abolish State Subsidies That Breed Parasitic Parties and Introduce Political Basic Income."

The photo shows nominee Yong standing side by side with other attendees, holding a sign that reads, "Abolish State Subsidies and Introduce Political Basic Income."

Notably, the image parodied the poster for the film Parasite, with black bars drawn across the eyes of the attendees, including nominee Yong.

At the time, the Basic Income Party stated in its press release, "Parasitic politics eyeing state subsidies are repeating," adding, "In particular, many political forces form and break alliances based on calculations of state subsidies ahead of elections."

They also criticized, "It was a paralyzed National Assembly worthy of being called an 'animal parliament,' yet subsidies are paid out just the same whether work is done or not."

Furthermore, they proposed, "Instead of parasitic politics that split and merge depending on subsidies, let's introduce a political basic income of 100,000 won per year to distribute state subsidies directly to the citizens and enable them to participate in politics."

Recently, after being nominated as a ministerial candidate, nominee Yong expressed her intention to retain her proportional representative seat, stating, "If I, the sole lawmaker belonging to the party, resign, there is the difficulty of the Basic Income Party becoming an extra-parliamentary party."

In response, some critics have raised voices of condemnation, calling it a trick and suggesting that she cannot resign from her parliamentary seat because the Basic Income Party would struggle to receive state subsidies if she steps down.

(Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)