Sewol activist tapped as gender equality minister

Yong Hye-in’s path into public life began with a silent march she organized as a university student to mourn the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.

Over a decade later, the two-term lawmaker has been nominated as gender equality and family minister.

At 36, the progressive Basic Income Party floor leader is the first Cabinet nominee born in the 1990s. She helped found the party in 2020 around a pledge to provide every citizen with 600,000 won ($435) a month.

Yong entered parliament that year via a liberal proportional-representation alliance led by the Democratic Party of Korea and won reelection through proportional representation in 2024.

As a member of the Gender Equality and Family Committee, she worked on digital sex crimes, protections for victims of violence and work-life balance.

After giving birth in 2021, Yong brought her 59-day-old son to parliament and proposed legislation allowing nursing infants to accompany lawmakers into parliamentary meetings.

In a Facebook post Sunday, Yong called gender equality “a constitutional duty to protect the lives and dignity of all people” and said it was a key national task for overcoming Korea’s complex challenges and building a sustainable future.