"Journalists, Please Come to Your Senses"—Yong Hye-in Unleashes Fury in Front of Reporters

[Financial News] "Journalists, please come to your senses."
Yong Hye-in, nominee for minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, launched into a forceful criticism of reports about various allegations surrounding her on the 10th. During her press conference and the question-and-answer session that followed, she repeated the word "media" more than 10 times and pushed back against the reports as "blatant false reporting" and "typical distortion." She went so far as to call the recent scrutiny directed at her "not verification, but violence."
At a press conference at the National Assembly that day, Yong said, "For more than 10 days, reports have continued to portray things as problems even when they were not, and reports have continued to omit my explanations even after I provided them."
The issue that drew her strongest protest involved reports about her spouse's salary and party dues. Yong explained that her spouse had received a salary from the Basic Income Party for more than six years and asked, "What is wrong with a 40-year-old worker receiving 2.58 million won in salary from a company over six years?"
She continued, "Because the amount appeared small, they added up several years' worth to make it look larger," and called it "typical distortion."
She also raised the assets of Joo Jin-woo, a People Power Party lawmaker, in response to criticism of her home purchase as "full ownership." Raising her voice, she asked, "Is it really rational for lawmaker Joo Jin-woo to criticize me for 'full ownership' and for the media to simply parrot it?"
Regarding allegations of a "ghost provincial party," she flatly called them "blatant false reporting." On the issue of a policy research institute sharing office space with a civic group, she said, "Once a report raising allegations is published, the allegations become fact no matter how much one refutes them."
She also expressed frustration with the way reporters conducted their coverage. Yong said, "It was commonplace for them not to include rebuttals, and there were frequent cases of people disguising themselves as party members, leaking only documents, and then resigning from the party." She added, "They dug into party officials' private lives, while observing none of the standards of reporting ethics."
She also disclosed an incident in which a reporter called the acting party leader after the leader's father had died. Even after receiving the response, "I am in mourning," the reporter asked, "Then may I ask just one question?"
Yong acknowledged that "thorough scrutiny is necessary," but asked, "If the facts are checked and there is no problem, shouldn't the matter be concluded as having no problem?" She criticized the media, saying, "Even when matters were explained through rebuttals and clarifications, there were many cases in which words such as 'allegations' and 'controversy' were prominently placed in headlines, imposing an image on people."
The verbal exchange continued immediately after the press conference. When a reporter asked whether she meant that the public should also come to its senses, Yong drew a line, saying, "I have never said that the public should come to its senses." She added, "I am listening carefully and thinking deeply about the public's serious concerns and various views."

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter