Yong Hye-in (36), a lawmaker from the Basic Income Party whom President Lee Jae-myung nominated on the 30th as candidate for Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, is a young politician who directly founded a party that set Lee's "basic income" as its core value. She has pushed for the "non-consensual sex offense," which would change the elements of rape from the existing "violence or intimidation" to "whether there was consent," thereby punishing sexual violations committed without the other party's consent as rape. The opposition bloc expects support to fall faster, saying the administration has tapped an agitator who brands men as potential perpetrators.
Kim Jae-seop, a People Power Party lawmaker, said on Facebook that day, "Rep. Yong Hye-in has turned a blind eye to the safety of women truly in danger while fronting a comprehensive anti-discrimination law to brand men as potential perpetrators, a wedge-driving agitator." He added, "It seems they calculated that declaring war on Males in their 20s could at least salvage their plummeting approval rating," and said, "Believing you can cover holes in public safety with the noise of conflict is arrogance that looks down on the people."
Kim said, "With the abolition of the supplementary investigation authority and the lack of police capacity overlapping, women's fear for their safety has already become a reality," adding, "In the midst of that, the government seated Yong Hye-in, a proponent of the 'non-consensual sex offense' that merely lowers the threshold for criminal punishment through an after-the-fact judgment of 'whether there was consent,' as Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family." He also said, "They are reducing crime investigation capacity while only increasing the targets of punishment."
If Yong passes her National Assembly confirmation hearing, she will become the first minister in their 30s since the 1987 constitutional amendment that introduced direct presidential elections. The previous youngest-minister record was Kim Hee-jeong, who joined the cabinet at 43 as Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family under the Park Geun-hye administration. In 2019, when Lee was Gyeonggi governor, he visited the Basic Income Party's founding preparatory committee and held a meeting with Yong, among other exchanges. In last year's 21st presidential election, she served as co-chair of Lee's central election campaign committee.