Last September, Yong compared US demand to 'anti-state forces' like Yoon government

As Lee administration speeds up investment, past remarks urged rejecting Trump's demands

PPP's Koo: 'If they knew and nominated her anyway, it raises questions about this government's real intent'

Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in leaves the press briefing room at the National Assembly press center in Yeouido, Seoul, after a news conference on Thursday.
Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in leaves the press briefing room at the National Assembly press center in Yeouido, Seoul, after a news conference on Thursday.

Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in once sharply criticized Washington's earlier demand for $350 billion in investment from South Korea, calling it "extortion, not investment," it was confirmed Friday. The remark has drawn scrutiny as the Lee Jae Myung administration pushes forward with the investment as a centerpiece of economic cooperation with the United States, with the opposition party questioning whether it is appropriate to nominate someone who has expressed such hard-line views toward Washington to a Cabinet post.

Yong, who was chair of the Basic Income Party at the time, made the remarks at a news conference at the National Assembly on Sept. 25 last year. "From what has been reported so far, the United States is demanding that South Korea pay $350 billion in cash on a short timetable, while Washington itself decides where the investment goes and how the returns are divided," she said. "Judging by the common sense of a market economy, this is not investment — it is extortion."

"Accepting such an unreasonable demand from the Trump administration is not a matter of choosing whether to pursue a policy — it is a matter of whether it is even possible," she said. "The National Assembly should take the lead and boldly reject the demand of a Trump administration that has abandoned the norms of an ally."

She also warned that "if 84 percent of our foreign exchange reserves flow out in a short period, the exchange rate will immediately spike, and a chain reaction of dollar outflows is highly likely in an open foreign exchange market." She added that "this risk cannot even be compared to the disadvantage of failing to lower the 25 percent tariff on auto exports to the US to 15 percent."

Yong went as far as invoking the terms "Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrectionist government" and "anti-state forces." "Unless it is an anti-state force like the Yoon Suk Yeol insurrectionist government, no sovereign nation could make a decision that would collapse its entire economy," she said.

Yong's remarks came after South Korea and the United States agreed in July last year, through tariff negotiations, on a total of $350 billion in investment in the US, at a time when follow-up talks were underway over how the investment would be structured and how profits would be shared. The two countries reached a detailed agreement at their summit in October of the same year, under which $200 billion would be executed as cash investment with an annual cap of $20 billion, while the remaining $150 billion would go toward cooperation in the shipbuilding industry.

The South Korean government is now speeding up follow-up negotiations on the investment amid pressure from Washington to begin executing the funds. A gas-fired power plant project in Texas has been floated as the first project under the investment plan, and the first tranche — roughly 3 trillion won ($2.24 billion) — is reportedly expected to be transferred to the US as early as later this month.

Rep. Koo Ja-geun of the People Power Party said, "Appointing someone who made these remarks as a Cabinet member — doesn't that amount to endorsing her position and views? If the vetting process failed to catch this, that is sheer incompetence, and if she was nominated despite it being known, it will raise questions about what the Lee Jae Myung administration's real intentions are."


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