Police will question the complainant in a case accusing Minister nominee Yong Hye-in of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of violating the Political Funds Act.
According to police on the 9th, the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul plans to summon former Seoul Metropolitan Council member Lee Jong-bae at 2 p.m. on the 10th to question the complainant regarding suspicions over nominee Yong's Basic Income Party dues. The former council member filed a complaint against the nominee with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 3rd, and it was assigned to the Yeongdeungpo station.
The former council member argued that illegal preferential treatment is suspected between nominee Yong's payment of a special party membership fee to the Basic Income Party, to which Yong belongs, and the salary her spouse received while working as a party official for the Basic Income Party.
After nominee Yong appointed her spouse as a paid party official, 293.6 million won in political funds was paid to the party as a special party fee, and the fact that part of that was then paid again as the spouse's salary could be seen as a kind of indirect attribution. Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the Political Funds Act stipulates that political funds must not be spent as private expenses or for improper purposes.
The civic group Committee for Policy on Ordinary People's Livelihoods also filed a complaint against the nominee for abuse of authority and violating the Public Official Election Act. It took issue with nominee Yong using an airport VIP lounge, which is available only while performing official duties, during a past family trip, and posting on social media (SNS) a photo taken wearing clothing bearing the party name ahead of the June 3 local elections.