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Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in

Basic Income Party Floor Leader Yong Hye-in (36), nominated as Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is a two-term lawmaker who has championed universal basic income as her signature agenda while consistently speaking out on childbirth, childcare, caregiving, and family diversity. She has served on the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee and introduced the Civil Partnership Act, which provides legal protection for caregiving relationships outside marriage or blood ties.

Born in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, and raised in Ansan, Yong attended Gyeongan High School and completed coursework in political science and diplomacy at Kyung Hee University. In 2014, while a college student, she gained public recognition by initiating the "Stay Put" silent protest in the wake of the Sewol ferry disaster, subsequently entering politics to lead the founding of the Basic Income Party. In 2020, she took office as the party's standing representative.

That same year, she entered the 21st National Assembly as a proportional representation lawmaker for the Platform Party before returning to the Basic Income Party, and won reelection through proportional representation in the 22nd general election. Following the Dec. 3 martial law declaration, she contributed to the opposition coalition seeking the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, and served as co-chair of the central campaign committee for presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung during the last presidential race.

Her relationship with President Lee developed around the theme of basic income. In 2019, when Lee was governor of Gyeonggi Province, the two met to exchange views on basic income policies. Building on this connection, she was nominated as the current administration's first cabinet minister born in the 1990s.

Nominee Yong has consistently pursued childbirth, childcare, caregiving, and family diversity as major political agendas alongside basic income. In 2021, 59 days after giving birth to her son, she appeared at a National Assembly press conference with her infant to urge the passage of legislation allowing babies into assembly chambers. In 2023, she proposed abolishing "no-kids zones" and introducing a child fast-track system for families accompanied by children.

Meanwhile, nominee Yong wrote on Facebook that day, "I heard news of the nomination on a weekend morning while taking care of my six-year-old child," adding, "As a working mother in my 30s and a member of an opposition party, I feel a profound sense of responsibility." She continued, "Gender equality for all is a constitutional duty to protect the lives and dignity of the people, as well as a crucial national agenda to overcome the compound crises facing the Republic of Korea and open a sustainable future."

                                                                                                           Kim Nam-hyung