The voluntary withdrawal of Yong Hye-in as nominee for minister of gender equality and family has drawn President Lee Jae-myung's second round of cabinet changes into a dispute over personnel vetting. Controversies mounted from the moment of her nomination — over holding a proportional-representation seat in the National Assembly while serving as a minister, and over the running of the Basic Income Party — yet critics say neither the presidential office nor the ruling party screened out those issues or responded to them adequately. With the ruling party moving to settle her status just three days after she confronted the criticism head-on, questions are also growing over whether the party and the government coordinated properly on the appointment and the response.
According to political sources on the 13th, the number of ministerial nominees who have failed to reach appointment amid controversy since the Lee Jae-myung government took office has risen to four. Yong follows Lee Jin-sook, nominee for education minister; Kang Sun-woo, nominee for gender equality and family minister; and Lee Hye-hoon, nominee for minister of planning and budget. At a press conference the same day, Yong stepped down from the nomination, saying, "I am grateful for President Lee Jae-myung's trust in entrusting me with such an important task, and I am sorry that I could not fulfill that duty."
Yong had initially signaled a firm intention to go through a confirmation hearing, rebutting each of the allegations against her point by point. At a press conference on the 10th, three days earlier, she declared she would push through the dispute over holding both a proportional-representation seat and a ministerial post, saying, "A National Assembly member serving concurrently as a state councilor is a principle permitted by law." The presidential office at the time also maintained a stance of "waiting to see how the hearing goes."
But the mood within the ruling bloc shifted sharply after her press conference. Beyond the concurrent-post question, attention turned to suspicions that the Basic Income Party had been run as a personal vehicle and to allegations that sexism had been tolerated within an "under-organization," an informal internal group in the party's past. Concerns about the nominee's approach to communication also surfaced after it emerged that she had gone ahead with the press conference without prior coordination with either the presidential office or the Democratic Party. A first-term Democratic Party lawmaker said, "In the course of explaining only her own position, the nominee in some ways amplified the controversy," adding, "Responding independently on a matter that required coordination between the party and the government was bound to become a burden."
Within the Democratic Party, the view that Yong could no longer be defended spread quickly. Concern grew that a cabinet reshuffle carried out to secure momentum for the administration, at a time when the president's approval rating has been sliding, could instead accelerate the erosion of his support base. Over the weekend, sentiment hardened within the ruling bloc that Yong's status had to be resolved, and the matter was settled when she accepted a recommendation from Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok that she step down voluntarily. Kang You-jung, senior spokesperson for the presidential office, said in a statement that the office "respects the nominee's decision," adding, "We see this as a decision the nominee made on her own to reduce the burden on state affairs and on people's livelihoods."
Criticism of the Lee Jae-myung government's personnel vetting system appears unavoidable in the wake of the withdrawal. The presidential office said it would "spare no effort in vetting and selection to ensure appointments that meet the public's expectations" — a statement read by some as effectively acknowledging that this appointment did not meet those expectations, while signaling an intent to apply stricter standards and greater caution to the replacement pick.
A ruling bloc official said, "Because it was clear that the opposition would step up its attacks over a failure of personnel vetting once the nominee resigned, this was not an easy decision for either the presidential office or the nominee," adding, "Even so, I understand the judgment was that, given the failure to build genuine public support for the nominee, there was no choice but to accept the decision to step down."
Questions also remain over whether there was sufficient communication between the presidential office's personnel officials and the ruling party during the appointment process. The argument is that coordination fell short not only in vetting the nominee beforehand but also in responding to the controversy after the nomination. Yong had made clear her intention to keep her proportional-representation seat immediately after being named, and the questions surrounding the Basic Income Party were already public knowledge. Critics say that failing to screen these issues out at the party and presidential office level points to a hole in the vetting process, while proceeding with the nomination in full knowledge of them points to a failure of political judgment.
If appointments continue to be made without adequate coordination with the ruling party, with political damage control coming only after controversy erupts, public trust in the personnel process as a whole will be difficult to restore, observers say. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jie-won also wrote on Facebook the same day that "personnel decisions require care in recommendation and selection, but vetting must be thorough as well," adding, "If all the blame is directed at the president, that is the responsibility of the personnel officials."
Meanwhile, the presidential office is said to remain unchanged in its position that Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister, should proceed to a confirmation hearing. The reasoning is that allegations raised by the opposition of lobbying over approval of a COVID-19 treatment clinical trial were found to raise no legal problem, and that absent new evidence establishing a quid pro quo, there is no particular ground for him to be dropped. The Democratic Party has also taken a firm defensive posture on Kim, unlike its handling of Yong, which is read as the presidential office seeking to hold the same line as the ruling party.
