Ruling Party Leader Urges Yong Hye-in to Give Up Assembly Seat

Sharp criticism is mounting from within the Democratic Party of Korea and the broader progressive camp after Yong Hye-in, the nominee for minister of gender equality and family, said she would keep her proportional-representation seat in the National Assembly even if confirmed. With President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating slipping, the controversy surrounding Yong is adding to the political cost of the administration's second-year cabinet reshuffle.

Park Sun-won, a member of the Democratic Party's supreme council, took aim at Yong in an interview on YTN Radio's "Jang Sung-chul's News Hotspot" on the 1st. "If there is a next candidate in line on the proportional-representation list, then of course the right thing to do is to give up the seat," Park said. "If she has become a nominee for gender equality and family minister, a post where she can put her expertise and strengths to use, I think she needs to give serious thought to it."

Within the Democratic Party, concern is spreading that the dispute over Yong holding both a ministerial post and her Assembly seat will weigh on the president's approval rating, undercutting the original aim of using the reshuffle to build momentum for the administration in its second year in office. Rep. Chung Il-young of the Democratic Party wrote on Facebook the same day, noting that Lee's approval rating had fallen to 38%, that "when I listen to what people are saying in the National Assembly and to the voices of the public about this reshuffle, I am deeply worried."

Some in the broader progressive camp are calling for the nomination to be withdrawn outright. Yang Kyung-kyu, leader of the Justice Party, said in a statement, "Is appointing as minister a politician who twice became a lawmaker through a satellite party really the kind of personnel decision to be made by a government that says it will set democracy right?" Yang urged, "President Lee must withdraw Yong's nomination."

Yong was asked by reporters about the dispute over the succession of her proportional-representation seat as she arrived at the National Assembly that day but offered no comment. Asked by reporters whether the presidential office was condoning Yong's decision to keep her seat, an official said, "For ministerial nominees, there should be an opportunity to address the various questions and doubts now being raised publicly through the confirmation hearing process."