Yong Hye-in, leader of the Basic Income Party, is a two-term lawmaker born in 1990. She was elected as a proportional representative in both the 21st and 22nd National Assemblies. Her legislative career is close to six years. She is also the only incumbent lawmaker of the Basic Income Party.
In a written interview with ChosunBiz on the 5th, Leader Yong assessed Korea's political situation as "the hostile co-existence of the two major parties." Yong said, "In a two-party system, even if policy failures pose a crisis for Korea, they are not a crisis for the major parties, so the two parties minimize and patch over problems with passive collusion in decisions about Korea's future." Combined, the Democratic Party of Korea (165 seats) and the People Power Party (107 seats) hold more than 90% of the National Assembly's seats.
Yong pointed to "the failure to properly respond to our society's compound crises" as the biggest problem arising from the two major parties' "hostile co-existence." She said politics is not finding solutions to issues that younger generations feel are serious, such as housing, pensions, and the climate crisis. Yong said, "Our society has failed to respond to compound crises for decades," adding, "For vested interests, putting things off for a day or two may not seem serious, but for future generations, each day comes back as a harsh reality."
Yong then cited as examples of the two major parties' "passive collusion" the Democratic Party's abrupt about-face on abolishing the financial investment tax and the two parties' tax cut alliance that prevents a land holding tax.
Yong said, "In a two-party system, the only focus can't help but be a political fight to undermine the other side's flaws, not competition to do better," adding, "To break this structure and advance future politics, political reform toward multi-party democracy is necessary."
Meanwhile, regarding the June 3 local elections, Yong said, "In regions where the Basic Income Party has focused its efforts, we will strategically place young basic-level council candidates who have honed their skills within the party, especially figures who can run with a goal of winning." She added, "Through this, we will raise the nationwide metropolitan proportional party vote share and aim to enter metropolitan councils."
As a pledge for the June 3 local elections, Yong said, "We will present leading and concrete alternatives on regional extinction and balanced development." The aim is to upgrade one step into a progressive mass party and an alternative opposition party. Yong said, "It is our mission to present bold and comprehensive alternatives that the two major parties or established progressive parties have failed to put forward and to raise the bar."