(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Gyeong-jun and Choi Joo-seong = Yong Hye-in, candidate for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, voluntarily resigned from her candidacy on the 13th.
It has been 14 days since President Lee Jae-myung nominated her as a candidate for Minister of Gender Equality.
This is the second time that an active lawmaker has been nominated as a ministerial candidate and then failed, following former Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Seon-woo, who was also nominated as a candidate for the Minister of Gender Equality but voluntarily resigned.
Candidate Yong held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center on this day and announced his intention to resign from his candidacy.
Candidate Yong said, "As a candidate for the Minister of Gender Equality under the Lee Jae-myung administration, I am determined to create a gender-equal society for everyone and would like to step down as a candidate for the Minister as of today."
Candidate Yong said, โI am grateful to the President for trusting me and entrusting me with such a big task, and I am also sorry for not being able to fulfill that duty.โ
Since Candidate Yong was nominated as a ministerial candidate, controversy over his concurrent position as a proportional representative member has arisen, and he has been under pressure to resign from not only the opposition party but also some in the ruling party.
On the 31st of last month, he tried to change public opinion on Facebook by saying, "I have already announced that I will not run as a proportional representative in the next general election," but even supporters of the ruling party did not stop criticizing him.
For this reason, as the level of criticism against the government and ruling party over President Lee's personnel appointments has recently increased, the ruling party appears to have put pressure on Candidate Yong to announce his actions.
Analysis suggests that the sharp decline in the approval rating of the 2030 generation for the ruling party in recent public opinion polls may have had an impact.
In fact, Candidate Yong said at the press conference that day, "I received a message from the Democratic Party that said, 'We respect the situation that the candidate and the Basic Income Party are in, but the candidate should make a decision considering the situation where there is not a wide public consensus regarding the proportional representative position and the ministerial position.'"
โI also thought deeply about it because I know what it means,โ he said. โAs a member of the State Affairs Commission must organically connect the National Assembly and the government to encourage cooperation, I judged that it would be realistically difficult to carry out that position in a situation where the ruling party also expressed concerns.โ
He added, โWe judged that (resigning as a candidate) was necessary to continue the spirit of solidarity within the Democratic Progressive Camp.โ
Regarding the intention conveyed by the Democratic Party regarding the move, Shin Ji-hye, a member of the Basic Income Party's top committee, met with reporters after Candidate Yong's meeting and said, "I received the intention from the Democratic Party leadership yesterday, and after consulting with the party leadership, I finally decided (to take action)."
When asked whether there was communication with the Blue House, Supreme Council Member Shin responded, "As far as I know, there was no communication with the Blue House."
Candidate Yong said, โI will go back to the beginning, reflect on myself, and devote myself to legislative activities with a humble and mature attitude,โ and is expected to continue to hold his position as a proportional representative.
Candidate Yong has been subject to strong criticism due to the suspicion of 'self-appointment' of his spouse to the basic income party and the controversy over his becoming a private party, in addition to the issue of concurrent positions.
Candidate Yong held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 10th and said, "It is a principle permitted by law for members of the National Assembly to concurrently serve as State Council members," and showed his determination to overcome the controversy head-on by refuting various allegations point by point.
Candidate Yong said of the interview at the time, "I waited for the confirmation hearing because I wanted to explain everything to the public one by one because there was nothing that was not honest, but amid the one-sided pouring out of fake information and speculation, I had no choice but to convey the truth and my sincerity directly to the people."
