Gyeongsangbuk-do Councilor Heo Ji-hoon condemns Rep. Yong Hye-in as ‘unqualified to serve on the parliamentary audit committee’

【The Financial News, Andong = Reporter Kim Jang-wook】“Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in is not qualified to serve on the parliamentary audit committee.”
Heo Ji-hoon, a Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Council member from the People Power Party elected by proportional representation, held a solo picket protest and an emergency press conference at 9:30 a.m. on the 20th in the courtyard in front of the main Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Government building. The event came ahead of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee’s audit of Gyeongsangbuk-do, an agency subject to its oversight. He condemned Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in as unqualified to serve on the parliamentary audit committee.
At the press conference following the picket protest, Councilor Heo called for Yong to resign from the parliamentary audit committee and for a thorough investigation into the alleged legal violations.
Councilor Heo said, “I cannot help but question whether Yong is really qualified to audit Gyeongsangbuk-do,” adding, “Amid allegations that she paid her husband a salary with political funds—taxpayers’ money—Yong has been criticized as the ‘Family Income Party’ and reported for alleged violations of the Political Funds Act.”
He added, “It undermines the rigor of the parliamentary audit for someone who should be investigated as a suspect to say they will audit an agency subject to that audit.”
In particular, he said, “The Basic Income Party is a shoddy party under investigation for alleged violations of the Political Parties Act, including setting up phantom city and provincial party chapters in the form of greenhouses. It does not even have a Gyeongsangbuk-do chapter to represent the voices of the province’s 2.6 million residents.” He added, “It is not right for someone who has shown no interest in or taken responsibility for Gyeongsangbuk-do’s issues or the lives of its residents to audit the province.”
Councilor Heo called for Yong to resign immediately from the committee conducting the audit of Gyeongsangbuk-do and to cooperate fully with the judicial authorities’ investigation, saying, “Someone suspected of a crime and facing investigation over ethical failings, with not even a basic understanding of the region, has absolutely no qualifications to audit Gyeongsangbuk-do.”

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