Lee Hyehun, who has been nominated as the Minister of Planning and Budget in the newly launched ministry following the government reorganization, is a seasoned politician with expertise in economics. She previously served three terms as a National Assembly member in the predecessors of the People Power Party: the Grand National Party, Saenuri Party, and United Future Party. As a figure from a conservative party background, her appointment is being described as the most unconventional Cabinet nomination since the launch of the Lee Jaemyung administration.
Born in Busan, Lee graduated from Masan Jeil Girls’ High School and the Department of Economics at Seoul National University, and earned her PhD in Economics from UCLA in the United States. She built her reputation as a policy expert by serving as an advisor at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), the Blue House, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Lee made a high-profile entry into the National Assembly in 2004 as a female economist nominated by the Grand National Party. She was re-elected in the 18th National Assembly elections in 2008, and returned to the Assembly in the 20th National Assembly elections in 2016 as a member of the Saenuri Party. Her constituency was always Seocho-gap in Seoul. During the impeachment crisis of former President Park Geun-hye, she left the Saenuri Party and participated in the founding of the Bareun Party.
Lee is the daughter-in-law of Kim Taeho, a former Minister of the Interior who served four terms as a National Assembly member. She met her husband, Kim Youngse, a renowned game theory scholar and professor of economics at Yonsei University, during her doctoral studies at UCLA. They have three sons together.
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