The Basic Income Party, to which Minister of Gender Equality and Family nominee Yong Hye-in belongs, spent only 2.87 million won in the first half of this year on women's and youth political development. In contrast, it spent more than 1 billion won on labor costs and organizational activities. During this period, the party's leader was nominee Yong.
Accordingly, some are saying that as party leader, nominee Yong may have fallen short in protecting the socially vulnerable. The presidential office previously introduced Yong as "a young two-term lawmaker who has spoken out clearly on the side of the socially vulnerable."
According to the "Basic Income Party 2024–2026 financial reports" obtained from the National Election Commission by People Power Party lawmaker Park Soo-young on the 2nd, the Basic Income Party recorded expenditure of 1.398 billion won in the first half of this year (Jan. 1–June 23, 2026).
Of that, only 1.15 million won went to women's political development and 1.72 million won to youth political development. There was no policy development expenditure at all. By contrast, 526.59 million won was spent on organizational activities and 478.58 million won on labor costs. Policy development and women's and youth political development amounted to just 0.28% of organizational activities and labor costs.
This ratio was 10.64% in 2024 (May 1–Dec. 31, 2024), but fell to 7.79% in 2025 (Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2025). Even taking into account that there were local elections in the first half of this year, spending on policy development or women's and youth political development was on a declining trend.
The Basic Income Party's financial report for last year shows total expenditure of 1.35039 billion won, with only 47.38 million won for policy development and 6.49 million won and 5.04 million won for women's and youth political development, respectively. Labor costs were 631.58 million won, and organizational activities were 124.04 million won.
Labor costs were a little over 290 million won in 2024, but rose to 478.58 million won in just the first half of this year. Organizational activities also increased from 79 million won in 2024 to 526.59 million won in the first half of this year.
The Basic Income Party said the sharp drop in policy development and women's and youth political development in the first half of this year was because it lacked capacity ahead of the local elections. Spokesperson Noh Seo-young said, "Because there were local elections, we spent a lot on organizational activities and labor costs," adding, "We usually spend policy development or youth political development funds by running campaigns or external activity projects on college campuses each semester, but in the first half of this year, young party members focused on the elections and we lacked the capacity to carry out related projects."
On this, People Power Party lawmaker Park Soo-young said, "The Basic Income Party professes to advance women's and youth politics, but spending on policy development and women's and youth political development is next to nothing." Park added, "Although Yong was nominated as Minister of Gender Equality and Family for expertise in women's and youth politics, in the end policy capability has not been verified, and not only women and youth but the public have been betrayed."