“This Cannot End with the Ministerial Candidate’s Resignation”...People Power Party Pressures Yong Hye-in to Resign from National Assembly Seat

[Financial News] After Yong Hye-in withdrew as a candidate for minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the opposition began demanding that she also resign from her seat in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. Calls also grew for President Lee Jae Myung to apologize and for officials in charge of personnel appointments to be held accountable, along with claims that Cheong Wa Dae had failed in its personnel vetting process.
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, argued on the 13th that Yong Hye-in’s resignation required further accountability, saying, “This cannot end with the resignation of a ministerial candidate.”
In a Facebook post that day, Jang criticized Yong Hye-in, saying, “Yong Hye-in abandoned the ministerial post and chose to retain her proportional-representation seat.” He added, “Did she realize that by trying to keep both, she was about to lose both?” and claimed, “This was not Yong Hye-in’s own decision, but a decision by a ‘left-wing cartel’ seeking to protect its own interests.”
Chung Jeom-sik, floor leader of the People Power Party, also joined the criticism of Yong Hye-in in a Facebook post. He stated, “Assembly member Yong Hye-in is unqualified not only to be a ministerial candidate but also to serve as a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea,” and added, “I strongly urge her to resign from her National Assembly seat.”
Chung also held the Democratic Party of Korea responsible. He said, “I understand that the Democratic Party of Korea asked Assembly member Yong Hye-in to make the decision to resign,” and pointed out, “Assembly member Yong Hye-in received two proportional-representation nominations from the Democratic Party of Korea. It was the Democratic Party of Korea that provided Assembly member Yong Hye-in with unfair preferential treatment.”
Chung went on to describe the appointment as a failure of Cheong Wa Dae’s personnel vetting process. He added, “This incident is an obvious failure by Cheong Wa Dae’s personnel officials to conduct proper vetting,” and said, “I hope President Lee Jae Myung apologizes to the public for this personnel disaster involving Yong Hye-in and takes responsible action against the Cheong Wa Dae personnel officials who failed in the vetting process.”
Earlier that day, Yong Hye-in announced her voluntary resignation at a press conference at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, saying, “I would like to step down as a ministerial candidate today.” This came two weeks after President Lee Jae Myung nominated her as a ministerial candidate on the 30th of last month.
Yong Hye-in explained that concerns within the ruling party over concurrently holding a proportional-representation seat and a ministerial post were the reason for her resignation. She said, “I respect the Democratic Party of Korea’s consideration of the circumstances facing the candidate and the Basic Income Party, but I was informed that the candidate should make a decision in light of the lack of broad public consensus regarding concurrently holding a proportional-representation seat and a ministerial post.”
Yong Hye-in again explained her decision to step down by referring to the role of a member of the State Council. She said, “A member of the State Council is expected to connect the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea and the government organically and lead cooperation,” adding, “I judged that it would be practically difficult to perform that role while the ruling party was also expressing concern.”
However, Yong Hye-in strongly rejected the allegations raised against her and the vetting process. She criticized what she called “the conduct of People Power Party lawmakers, who spent the past two weeks endlessly mocking and disparaging the difficult circumstances of a minor party while abandoning the verification of facts, as well as maliciously distorted reports by some media outlets that put fact-checking on the back burner and did not even guarantee the right to respond.”
Yong Hye-in also expressed frustration that a confirmation hearing could not be held. She said, “Because I had nothing to be ashamed of, I wanted to explain everything one by one before the public. However, the People Power Party ultimately refused to schedule a personnel confirmation hearing.”


[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter