Gender minister nominee says aware of concerns over keeping Assembly seat

Gender Minister nominee Yong Hye-in acknowledged on Wednesday that she is cognizant of the concerns surrounding her decision to maintain her National Assembly seat while being appointed to the Cabinet. She avoided addressing calls for her to relinquish her parliamentary position. Yong has been under increasing pressure to step down from parliament after she initially stated she would retain her seat despite her Cabinet appointment, deviating from the norm for proportional representatives.

When reporters inquired about the calls to resign as a lawmaker, Yong assured she would thoroughly prepare for the confirmation hearing and provide her thoughts afterward. She expressed her attentiveness to the various worries and concerns. Notably, lawmakers are typically permitted to serve in both the Assembly and Cabinet roles.

However, proportional representatives, like Yong, have traditionally given up their parliamentary seats to assume such positions. Yong, the sole lawmaker of the Basic Income Party, had previously stated that her party would become non-parliamentary if she resigned as a lawmaker.