PPP leader calls Yong Hye-in press conference a 'collective message from left-wing cartel'

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Friday lashed out at the press conference held Thursday by Yong Hye-in, nominee for minister of gender equality and family, calling it "a collective message from a left-wing cartel directed at President Lee Jae Myung."

Jang made the remarks in a Facebook post, writing that "Yong Hye-in's press conference on Thursday was not a message from Yong Hye-in alone to the people."

He described Yong's entry into the National Assembly and her nomination as gender equality minister as the work of a "left-wing cartel." Jang said the group's "primary goal was to enter the political establishment," which it achieved through the Basic Income Party — a satellite party fronted by Yong. He added that "Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party opened that path twice through the linked proportional representation system."

"The next goal is to build a foothold at the heart of power," Jang wrote, questioning why, of all possible cabinet posts, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was chosen for Yong's nomination.

Jang characterized the move as a strategy modeled on the ideas of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. "What the Western left sought to dismantle first was traditional values and ethics," he said, describing a "Gramscian strategy" of embedding left-wing influence across culture, media, education and religion to erode traditional culture and ultimately reshape political and economic institutions.

Jang said the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was "the ideal foothold for carrying out such a strategy," adding that while it may appear to be a minor ministry, "there is no area of society it cannot reach."

Citing Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon and Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin under the Lee Jae Myung administration, Jang argued that placing a labor minister from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, an education minister from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, and finally a gender equality minister from an underground organization would in effect complete the left-wing cartel's entrenchment.

"They are both an interest cartel and an ideological cartel," Jang said. "They will never give up the enormous benefits they can reap through Yong Hye-in's ministerial post, nor the golden opportunity to spread their ideology."

He added that Yong voluntarily stepping down or giving up her proportional representation seat "was never among their options to begin with," and that "President Lee Jae Myung will not dare withdraw Yong's nomination."