People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok escalated his attacks Saturday, targeting not only Yong Hye-in, the nominee for minister of gender equality and family, but also Kim Hyun-ji, chief of the first secretariat at Cheong Wa Dae and a close aide to President Lee Jae Myung.
In a Facebook post, Jang said he had been puzzled from the moment President Lee "out of nowhere" nominated Yong for the cabinet post, adding that her nomination was "not something that just happened."
He alleged the appointment was part of a "left-wing cartel" being built by Kim. "Did Cheong Wa Dae not know about the refusal to give up the proportional representation seat? Kim would have known," Jang wrote. "She would have turned a blind eye because it was about taking care of 'the organization.'"
His broadside came after remarks by Seo Yong-ju, director of the Maek Institute for Politics and Society and a former standing deputy spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, surfaced from a YouTube appearance on Friday in which he said, "The personnel line is Kim Hyun-ji." Jang seized on the comments to allege there had been "manipulation of personnel appointments" behind Yong's selection.
PPP chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon also weighed in, criticizing Yong and Ministry of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won — who faces allegations of improper solicitation — saying the second-term cabinet reshuffle was "the worst personnel selection in history."
"This goes beyond a personnel failure — it is a personnel disaster and a manipulation of appointments," Park said in a statement. "It is a signal that President Lee's lame-duck period has already begun." He called on the president to immediately withdraw the nominations of unqualified candidates and apologize to the public.
Five-term PPP lawmaker Yun Sang-hyeon also posted on Facebook, asking "why the name Kim Hyun-ji keeps appearing in personnel controversies instead of the official appointment line." He demanded that any private interference outside official channels be "cut off immediately," and if there was none, that the matter be "made crystal clear in a way the public can accept."
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