Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, an independent lawmaker who previously worked as a semiconductor technician for Samsung Electronics, is planning to establish a new political party.
On June 26, Yang, age 56, will host a party launch ceremony at the KBIZ Hall of the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul.
The inauguration ceremony will include a proclamation about the new political party, including details about its members. The office of Yang informed The Korea Herald on Monday that no additional information could be provided.
Yang is the most recent lawmaker to attempt to establish a new political party in South Korea, where the People’s Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea control the legislature.
Samsung engineer-turned-lawmaker will launch a political organization.
Former lawmaker Keum Tae-sup, a moderately liberal politician formerly affiliated with the Democratic Party of Korea, announced his intention to establish a new political party, which was backed by former Democratic Party chairman Kim Chong-in.
In the National Assembly, only Yang possesses expertise in the subject of semiconductors. She began working for Samsung Electronics in 1986 and has since served as a technician for memory chips for decades. Since 2014, she has operated as a Samsung Electronics executive devoted to flash memory semiconductor.
In 2016, Yang entered politics. Since 2020, when she won a general election, she has represented the Gwangju Seo-gu Eul electorate.
Yang was expelled from the Democratic Party in July 2021 after it was revealed that one of her assistants had sexually harassed a colleague. Yang has maintained his autonomy since.
Yang attempted to rejoin the Democratic Party after the police acquitted the lawmaker, but she later withdrew her candidacy in opposition to the party’s position on legislation to limit the authority of the nation’s prosecution service.
In 2022, Yang chaired a People Power Party-sponsored special committee that resulted in December legislation advocating for a tax exemption of at least 8 percent for chipmakers to bolster the nation’s semiconductor industry.
She is presently a member of a National Assembly committee devoted to commerce, industry, energy, small and medium-sized businesses, and startups.
