Rep. Yoon Hee-sook Resigns, Declares Non-Candidacy for Presidential Election... "Politicians Must Not Abandon Morality"

"Providing Grounds to Ridicule the Justification for Regime Change, Will Take Responsibility"

Yoon Hee-sook, a member of the People Power Party who was suspected of violating the Farmland Act in the comprehensive real estate survey conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is declaring her resignation from the National Assembly on the 25th./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Rep. Yoon Hee-sook has taken responsibility for being implicated in the Real Estate Law violation allegations by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) and announced her resignation from the National Assembly and withdrawal from the presidential primary race.

On the morning of the 25th, Rep. Yoon held a press conference at the National Assembly and said, "I will stop my journey toward the presidential candidate primary. I will also return my position as a member of the National Assembly to the residents of Seocho-gap district and the people." According to the ACRC investigation results released the previous day, Rep. Yoon’s father purchased 10,087㎡ of farmland in Sejong City in 2016 but did not farm it himself. This constitutes a violation of the Farmland Act. The ACRC also revealed that her father only moved his address from Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul to Sejong City when a local investigation was conducted.

Regarding this, Rep. Yoon stated, "My father acquired the farmland in 2016 with the hope of spending the rest of his life farming, but due to my mother’s sudden health deterioration, he reportedly entered into a lease contract through the Korea Rural Community Corporation." She pointed out, "Isn’t this reckless involvement of my father intended to tarnish the reputation of an opposition party lawmaker?"

Nonetheless, Rep. Yoon declared that she would take responsibility for providing grounds for criticism and step down. She said, "The biggest issue in this presidential election is the Moon Jae-in administration’s failure in real estate and double standards. Having fought at the forefront of this, although it is due to a ridiculous investigation, I cannot help but feel a crisis that I have provided a pretext that ridicules the legitimacy of regime change and could collapse an important pillar of the presidential election battle."

After the press conference, she emphasized in a meeting with reporters, "Although I am stepping down here, the way I leave is the path of a politician I wanted to see." She added, "The people are simply giving up on and tolerating politicians who have less morality and qualifications than ordinary Korean citizens. I hope the public does not give up on the moral qualifications when evaluating politicians."

However, the People Power Party intends to continue persuading Rep. Yoon not to resign. On the day of the press conference, party leaders including Representative Lee Jun-seok gathered to prevent her resignation. When Rep. Yoon announced her resignation, Rep. Lee, with tears in his eyes, urged her, saying, "Rep. Yoon has done nothing wrong, and I am confident that I have no responsibility." Earlier, despite the ACRC’s announcement, Rep. Lee decided not to discipline Rep. Yoon.

For Rep. Yoon to resign from her position, a vote in the plenary session of the National Assembly must be conducted. According to Article 135 of the National Assembly Act, a member’s resignation can be approved by resolution, and the approval is decided by a vote. To approve the resignation, a majority of the members present and voting is required, with a quorum of more than half of all members.

Meanwhile, the People Power Party will hold a vision presentation session for 12 presidential candidates excluding Rep. Yoon at the party headquarters in the afternoon. The order of presentations was pre-determined by drawing lots, and there will be no Q&A or debate among the candidates.

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