Yong Hye-in's nomination reignites debate over non-consent rape law

Yong Hye-in, a 36-year-old sitting lawmaker and floor leader of the Basic Income Party, has been nominated as minister of gender equality and family — a surprise pick that is already drawing attention to her long-held push for a non-consent rape statute. Yong has staked out clear positions on contentious social issues, including supporting the introduction of abortion pills and sponsoring a bill that would recognize two adults without blood or marital ties as a legally protected domestic partnership. Her nomination to lead the ministry overseeing such matters is expected to reignite debate over the non-consent rape proposal during her confirmation hearing.

According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Yong will report for the first time Wednesday to a confirmation hearing preparation office set up at the Korea Youth Activity Promotion Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.

Yong is a two-term National Assembly member, having served in the 21st and 22nd assemblies, and has held both the party leadership and floor leader roles in the Basic Income Party. Born in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, she graduated from Gyeongan High School in Ansan and studied political science and diplomacy at Kyung Hee University. In the Assembly, she has focused her legislative work on reforming laws related to women and the family, and has been a vocal advocate for introducing abortion medications such as mifepristone to guarantee women's right to safe abortion.

During the 21st National Assembly, Yong sponsored a domestic partnership bill that would grant family-equivalent legal status to adults who care for each other outside of marriage or blood relations. The proposal drew criticism from some quarters, who argued it would in effect legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2021, she brought her 59-day-old infant to the Assembly chamber to press for legislation allowing parents to bring young children to parliamentary sessions.

On Monday, Yong wrote on her SNS account: "As a working mother in my thirties and as a member of an opposition party that shares responsibility for governing the country, I feel a deep sense of duty. I will lead substantive change that every citizen can relate to and feel in their daily lives."

Among the policies most likely to draw scrutiny if Yong is confirmed is her push to introduce a non-consent rape statute. Under current criminal law, rape requires proof of "violence or intimidation." The proposed change would make it possible to prosecute rape even when no physical force or threats were used, as long as the act occurred without the other person's consent.

At a related forum held in the National Assembly last April, Yong said: "The 22nd National Assembly must amend the elements of rape from violence and intimidation to the question of consent, and protect the dignity of all sexual crime victims. Introducing a non-consent rape law is a demand of the times that has been raised repeatedly."

Legal and academic experts are divided on the proposed non-consent rape statute.

Park Su-jin, a senior attorney at law firm Hyeseok, said the measure is "a legislative reform task for women that civil society has long pursued," adding that because sexual self-determination is the protected interest in sex crime law, "it is appropriate for consent to be incorporated as an element of the offense."

Park also said that existing criminal law already includes offenses — such as illegal filming and stalking — where whether the act was against the victim's will is a required element of the crime. "These offenses have not generated significant problems of false accusations or unclear statutory elements in the course of investigation or trial," she said.

Han Min-kyung, a criminology professor at the Korean National Police University, said that in practice, rape cases without accompanying violence or intimidation are more common. "Particularly in cases involving sexual intercourse while intoxicated — where the victim says they did not want it but no violence, intimidation, or deception can be established — there are situations that are difficult to prosecute as rape under current law," she said.

Kim Hye-kyung, a police administration professor at Keimyung University, offered a dissenting view. "If sexual intercourse took place against someone's expressed unwillingness, there must have been some form of coercion that overcame that resistance," she said. "Expanding the scope of punishment simply on the grounds that consent was absent, without such coercion, could create serious difficulties in objectively proving whether consent was given."

Kim added that another problem could arise "when a relationship occurs through implicit agreement and one party later claims they did not consent at the time — it could become very difficult to prove that objectively."

With a broader overhaul of the criminal justice system set for October, preparing measures to protect victims of gender-based violence following the abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers is another challenge Yong would face if confirmed.

A lawyer with a prosecutorial background said that even now, a backlog of cases at police stations is causing delays in processing sexual violence complaints. "After the abolition of the prosecution service and the reallocation of investigative authority, these problems could worsen significantly," the lawyer said. "How to protect sexual violence victims under the new criminal justice framework must also be part of the discussion."

Yong has said she intends to serve as minister while retaining her proportional representation seat in the National Assembly. The National Assembly Act permits lawmakers to hold concurrent cabinet positions. However, it has long been an informal convention for proportional representation members nominated to the cabinet to first resign their seat, passing it to the next candidate on the party list, before taking up the ministerial post.

Yong said she cannot resign because she is her party's sole Assembly member. In a post on her SNS account that day, she wrote: "I bow my head and ask for understanding regarding the difficulties of a minor party, where an individual's decision is inevitably tied directly to the party's future." Her resignation would leave the Basic Income Party without any Assembly representation.

As she faces the confirmation hearing process, a range of controversies surrounding her are expected to surface. Beyond the question of retaining her proportional seat, a 2023 dispute over her use of a VIP airport lounge may also come back under the spotlight. Yong drew criticism that year after it emerged she had used the VIP lounge at Gimpo Airport while traveling to Jeju Island with her family on a personal trip — raising questions about whether it was appropriate for a lawmaker to use such facilities for non-official purposes.