Nominee has held key posts in economic analysis and comprehensive policy

Has built international experience at World Bank and OECD

Three-time 'most admired boss' pick, widely respected within ministry

Lee Hyung-il, first vice minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, was nominated Sunday as deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy — a seasoned economic official whose career spans policy formulation, finance, international organizations and statistics. Having been repeatedly tapped for key economic policy roles under both progressive and conservative governments, he is regarded as a strong policy thinker with sharp inter-agency coordination skills.

Lee Hyung-il, first vice minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, nominated Sunday as deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy. [Yonhap]
Lee Hyung-il, first vice minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, nominated Sunday as deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy. [Yonhap]

Born in Daegu in 1971, Lee graduated from Gyeongsan High School in Daegu and Seoul National University with a degree in economics, then earned a doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University. He passed the state administrative examination and began his public-service career at the Ministry of Finance in 1993.

He built his early policy experience in finance, working at the financial policy bureau of the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Public Fund Management Committee in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. He later served at the Ministry of Economy and Finance as head of the capital markets division, the economic analysis division and the comprehensive policy division, eventually rising to director general for economic policy — a role that gave him broad exposure to diagnosing economic trends and setting the government's economic policy direction.

A hallmark of Lee's career is his repeated appointment to senior roles across successive administrations. In 2018, under the Moon Jae-in government, he served as a senior secretary at the presidential office's economic affairs secretariat, then moved through the posts of director general for economic policy and vice minister for policy at the Ministry of Economy and Finance before becoming economic policy secretary at the presidential office in 2021. He returned to the ministry as vice minister for policy under the Yoon Suk Yeol government in 2022 and was appointed commissioner of Statistics Korea the following year.

After the Lee Jae Myung government took office, he was appointed first vice minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in June 2025. He continued in that role after the ministry was reorganized and relaunched as the Ministry of Finance and Economy in January this year. Having served as vice minister for policy under both the Moon and Yoon administrations and now as first vice minister under the current government, Lee has worked at the heart of economic policymaking across three successive governments.

Lee has also accumulated substantial international experience. From 2015, he spent three years as a senior economist at the World Bank. During his tenure as Statistics Korea commissioner, he served as vice chair of the UN Statistical Commission and as a member of the bureau of the OECD Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy, further broadening his international profile.

Within the ministry, he is known as a consensus-building official who draws out voluntary participation from staff through open communication. Colleagues have voted him onto the ministry's "most admired boss" list three times, earning him a place in its hall of fame. When he took office as Statistics Korea commissioner, he skipped a formal inauguration ceremony and went straight to chairing a senior staff meeting — a signal that he values substance over formality.

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, briefing reporters on the appointment Sunday, described Lee as "a standout policy expert who has held key economic policy posts across the board, and who has demonstrated his ability to execute — most notably by leading the introduction of a maximum oil price system to counter high global crude prices driven by Middle East tensions."

Kang added that Lee, as a young economic steward, "is expected to translate record-high economic indicators into real improvements in people's quality of life, overcome polarization and put our economy on a stable growth path."

Profile

Born in Daegu, 1971; Gyeongsan High School, Daegu; Seoul National University, economics; doctorate in economics, Texas A&M University; passed state administrative examination; head of capital markets, economic analysis and comprehensive policy divisions, Ministry of Economy and Finance; senior economist, World Bank; director general for economic policy, Ministry of Economy and Finance; economic policy secretary, presidential office; vice minister for policy, Ministry of Economy and Finance; commissioner, Statistics Korea; first vice minister, Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Finance and Economy.


y2k@heraldcorp.com