United Future Party Pulls Out Yoon Mi-hyang State Investigation Card... Will the 'Cho Kuk Incident' Repeat?

Democratic Party, Song Young-gil "At Least Show Respect for the Life of a Civic Activist" and Other Supporters

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Wondara and Lim Chunhan] The United Future Party is launching an offensive, including pushing for a government investigation into Yoon Mee-hyang, the elected member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Analysts suggest that the increasingly controversial 'Yoon Mee-hyang incident' could develop in a manner similar to the 'Cho Kuk incident.'

On the 19th, the United Future Party pulled out the 'government investigation' card regarding the elected member Yoon. Kim Sung-won, the United Future Party's senior deputy floor leader, stated while visiting Yook Kyung-hyun, chairman of the Constitutional Association, at the Constitution Hall, in response to the question "Is it appropriate to conduct a government investigation on Yoon Mee-hyang?" that "It is an issue that has caused significant public outrage and should be pursued." He added regarding the Future Korea Party's decision to form a task force (TF) to investigate Yoon Mee-hyang, "Since the idea came up there (Korea Party), we will consider it positively." On the same day, Won Yoo-chul, leader of the Future Korea Party, said after the Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in the morning, "Our party's elected members Yoon Joo-kyung, Cho Tae-yong, and Jeon Ju-hye will form a joint TF with the United Future Party to respond."

In political circles, there is speculation that this incident could become the next Cho Kuk incident. During the height of the Cho Kuk incident in October last year, President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his administration plummeted to around 36%. On the morning of the same day, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Yong-jin expressed concern on KBS Radio, saying, "Issues regarding accounting transparency must meet the public's standards and common sense," and added, "If we show attitudes like 'this side is close to me, so it's okay, but that side is not, so it's not okay,' the public will lose trust in our politics and the Democratic Party." Um Kyung-young, director of the Era Spirit Research Institute, said, "Public opinion is rapidly deteriorating. It seems to be unfolding as a mirror image of the Cho Kuk incident," and added, "Since the case of former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don was swiftly resolved to minimize damage, if this case also results in a quick resignation, it will not have a significant impact."

However, the Democratic Party still maintains a protective atmosphere around the elected member Yoon. Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil emphasized in an MBC Radio interview on the morning of the same day, "There must be at least a minimum respect for the life of a civic activist who has fought over the comfort women issue." He also pointed out, "I saw that Yoon's father was paid 7.58 to 8 million won for managing the healing center and thought it was an annual salary," and added, "It is not so; he was paid 1.5 million won per month for six years, and recently 500,000 won per month, but people are being led to view this negatively." Lawmaker Lee Gae-ho mentioned in a CBS interview, "I hope we remember the significant contributions made to raising awareness about the comfort women grandmothers' issue while looking at various matters." Lee Nak-yeon, chairman of the Democratic Party's COVID-19 National Crisis Management Committee, after a luncheon meeting with elected members from the Honam region in Gwangju the previous day, told reporters, "(We) are taking the incident seriously and are in deep consultation with the party," but did not make any further remarks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.