PPP spokesperson in hot water over remarks pointed at visually impaired lawmaker Kim Yea-ji
Published: 17 Nov. 2025, 11:46
![People Power Party (PPP) media spokesperson Park Min-young, left, and fellow PPP lawmaker Kim Yea-ji [SCREEN CAPTURE, NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/17/3bbb5ece-fb6c-47d6-b2c5-0f9b4f6bfa8c.jpg)
People Power Party (PPP) media spokesperson Park Min-young, left, and fellow PPP lawmaker Kim Yea-ji [SCREEN CAPTURE, NEWS1]
Conservative People Power Party (PPP) media spokesperson Park Min-young came under fire after remarks surfaced of him saying there was “a problem with assigning too many disabled people,” in a comment apparently directed at fellow party lawmaker Kim Yea-ji, who is blind.
Park made the remark on Wednesday during an appearance on a YouTube channel, where he questioned Kim’s political ambitions within the PPP, saying, “Why does she even want to be nominated by our party?”
In the same video, the YouTube channel's host criticized Kim, using profanity while referencing her earlier statements about being attacked for being both a woman and a person with a disability. Park appeared to agree, saying Kim “seems to take being accommodated for granted rather than embracing her identity as a person with a disability,” and described her as “completely consumed by a victim mentality.”
The video is no longer available on the channel.
The comments gained public attention on Sunday after being highlighted by another YouTube channel host who expressed opposition and vowed to file a complaint against Park for his “discriminatory remarks against the disabled” on Sunday.
Facing growing backlash, Park issued a statement on Facebook the same day. “I did not say that people with disabilities shouldn’t be allocated seats,” he wrote. “What I meant is that being disabled should not justify overrepresentation compared to other groups, nor should it be used as a reason to grant excessive privileges to any one individual.”
Park added that he could not understand “why Kim Yea-ji had to be given proportional representation status twice in the PPP,” and argued that as someone who benefited from such privileges, she “should have at least made an effort to respect party policy and live up to the expectations of party members.”
“Everyone knows she was granted those privileges twice by using the party’s name, but has since treated the party line as worthless,” he continued. “She not only supported impeachment but also voted in favor of a special probe pushed by the Democratic Party and repeatedly proposed bills that go against the PPP’s platform.”
“A political party is not an ATM that hands out nominations every four years, nor is it a platform that lends its name at election time,” Park wrote. “A party is a union of members who share the same goals and values — that’s what defines a political organization.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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