PPP calls Yong Hye-in nomination a 'deception tactic,' says Kim Seung-won is the real card to watch

The People Power Party said Tuesday it would continue pressing its criticism of gender equality and family minister nominee Yong Hye-in while vowing to "thoroughly scrutinize" Justice Ministry nominee Kim Seung-won at his confirmation hearing.

Park Chung-kwon, the PPP's chief spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly that Yong's nomination was "a Lee Jae Myung-style deception tactic" designed to draw attention away from Kim, whom he called the Lee administration's "real card."

"Public attention needs to be focused on nominee Kim, not nominee Yong," Park said. He added that Kim had been listed as a member of the defense team for Nam Wook — a central figure in the Daejang-dong case — and described Kim as co-chair of the Democratic Party's group pushing for the withdrawal of indictments.

"Appointing someone like this as justice minister nominee means President Lee intends to defy public sentiment and push through an unconstitutional attempt to drop charges," Park said. "If that attempt is forced through, it will not be President Lee who drops his own trial — it will be the people who drop President Lee."

Park pledged that the PPP would "use every means available" to scrutinize Kim and secure a clear commitment at the confirmation hearing that he would not seek to withdraw the indictments.

Park also turned his attention to Yong, saying her track record showed she had "championed legislation and policies entirely harmful to the national interest," singling out her role in pushing the anti-discrimination bill and the abolition of supplementary investigative powers as examples of what he called bad law.

Park characterized Yong's political career as a case of double standards. He said she had started out in a party called the Labor Party, then — apparently finding that insufficient to win public support — rebranded a socialist distribution-style platform as "basic income" and used that framing to form a new party and enter the National Assembly. "She has made a habit of political activity that does nothing for the national interest," he said.

Park added that the party had entered the Assembly through the flawed semi-proportional representation system, received 1.1 billion won ($801,000) in taxpayer funds as a parliamentary party, and then hired Yong's spouse as a party staffer — drawing on public money in what he called a "family party" arrangement. "This kind of double-standard behavior is stoking widespread public anger," he said.