The Basic Income Party has proposed that the Democratic Party of Korea revise the National Assembly Act to bar sitting lawmakers from concurrently serving as cabinet ministers, a day after Rep. Yong Hye-in withdrew as nominee for minister of gender equality and family. With the controversy over the nomination settled by her voluntary withdrawal, the small party is now pressing the Democratic Party in the name of "coalition politics" with the broader progressive bloc.
Oh Jun-ho, leader of the Basic Income Party, said at a supreme council meeting at the party's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 14th that "if the principle of mutual checks between the executive and legislative branches matters, there is no reason to allow district lawmakers to hold ministerial posts while demanding resignation only from proportional representation lawmakers." He added, "Let us bring to public debate a revision of the National Assembly Act that would bar lawmakers, whether elected in districts or through proportional representation, from serving concurrently as cabinet ministers."
Under current law, lawmakers are permitted to hold cabinet posts, but proportional representation lawmakers have customarily given up their seats because a successor next in line can take over. Yong, however, faced fierce criticism for seeking to take the ministerial post while retaining her proportional representation seat, and stepped down as nominee on the 13th of this month. At the news conference announcing her withdrawal, Yong said the Democratic Party had conveyed a request that she make a decision in light of the limited public consensus on holding a proportional representation seat and a ministerial post at the same time.
Seizing on the episode, the Basic Income Party proposed formalizing a rule under which any lawmaker appointed to the cabinet must relinquish their seat, regardless of whether they were elected in a district or through proportional representation. It also called for expanding the number of proportional representation seats to prevent the emergence of satellite parties, and for legally permitting electoral alliances between parties and joint proportional representation lists.
Since Yong's withdrawal, the Democratic Party has been left with the task of building ties with the Basic Income Party and the rest of the progressive bloc. Oh urged the Democratic Party to "show a responsible attitude toward coalition politics," and declared that he would soon meet Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok in person to discuss political reform. Appearing the same day on "Minti 07," a program on the Democratic Party's YouTube channel, Kim said, "With the Rebuilding Korea Party, we need to discuss whether to merge or form an alliance and align our positions, but with the Basic Income Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Progressive Party, an alliance is already a given."
