The move makes Lee the first of six ministerial nominees tapped by President Lee Jae Myung in his second Cabinet reshuffle on Aug. 30 to clear the parliamentary confirmation process.
The committee convened at 9:30 a.m. and adopted the report after Lee underwent a roughly 12-hour confirmation hearing the previous day.
During the hearing, lawmakers scrutinized him over a Gwacheon apartment he has owned for about 17 years despite living there for only about four months. Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties also clashed over the government’s proposed 164 trillion won ($118.8 billion) fund aimed at addressing future economic challenges.
Lee, 55, is a career economic bureaucrat who passed the country's civil service exam for senior government positions in the finance and economics track in 1992 before beginning his career at the Finance Ministry. He later served in a string of senior posts including director-general of the Economic Policy Bureau, deputy minister, presidential secretary for economic policy and commissioner of Statistics Korea before becoming first vice minister of finance and economy. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Seoul National University and a doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University.
Meanwhile, confirmation hearings for the remaining nominees for the justice, defense, gender equality and family, land and transport, and SMEs and startups ministries are still pending.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea's parliament adopted Lee Hyung-il's confirmation hearing report with bipartisan support.
- Lee became the first nominee from President Lee Jae Myung's second reshuffle to clear this stage.
- A career economic bureaucrat, Lee passed the civil service exam's finance track in 1992.
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