Minister-nominee Yong Hye-in for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family again stayed silent over the issue of holding both a proportional-representation lawmaker seat and the ministerial post.
Yong, at about 8:22 a.m. on the 8th, arrived for work at the personnel hearing office set up at the Korea Youth Work Agency (KYWA) in Seodaemun District, Seoul, and gave no answer to reporters' questions asking her stance on holding both positions. She also remained tight-lipped about the position the Basic Income Party had made public the day before.
Yong has not offered explanations not only about the controversy over holding both posts, but also over controversies surrounding the appointment process of her spouse, Park Ki-hong, as a top committee member of the Basic Income Party, condoning gender discrimination within a behind-the-scenes organization, and allegedly planning a silent protest over the Sewol ferry disaster under a borrowed name.
Shin Ji-hye, a top committee member of the Basic Income Party, said the day before about Yong's dual-post issue, "A new path at any time must be a challenge and an attempt for a new precedent to be made."
Yong has said only that she will explain at the confirmation hearing.
The presidential office also said that, as a rule, a nominee selected through the personnel system should go through a confirmation hearing.
An official from the presidential office accompanying President Lee Jae-myung on his state visit to France told reporters in Paris on the 7th (local time), "My understanding is that the confirmation-hearing system itself is a process of public vetting of the nominee," and added, "Because the nominee was designated through the personnel system under the responsibility of the personnel chief, it should go through a confirmation hearing."