Minister of Planning and Budget nominee Lee Hye-hoon apologized on the 30th, saying, "During the insurrection, my judgment was lacking, and the responsibility for not acting courageously before the Constitution and democracy lies solely with me." She added that when she was asked to be the nominee for Minister of Planning and Budget, she "took it as the people's mandate to repay my misjudgment with the weight of state affairs."
The nominee stated accordingly to reporters as she arrived at the office preparing for her confirmation hearing that day. The nominee wrote a 895-character piece titled "Severance and liquidation, and integration" herself and read it in front of reporters.
The nominee said, "I candidly confess today that, while engaged in politics within a party at the time of the insurrection, I was consumed by partisanship and lost sight of the essence of the matter and the reality of the national community's crisis." She continued, "To those who spent each cold winter day to defend democracy and were hurt, to the public officials who will accept me as Minister and head of the ministry, and to all who were hurt, I sincerely apologize."
The nominee is a conservative politician who served three terms in the predecessors of the People Power Party, the Hannara Party, the Saenuri Party, and the United Future Party (UFP). She has also criticized progressive administrations' "expansionary fiscal policy." But on the 28th, President Lee Jae-myung made a surprise pick, tapping the nominee as the inaugural Minister of Planning and Budget.
Since the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, the nominee has made remarks in public venues defending former President Yoon Suk-yeol. On Feb. 15, she attended the "rally of party committee chairs opposing impeachment in front of the Constitutional Court" and called the former president's arrest and detention "an unfair investigation." She added, "They say there is no risk of flight for Lee Jae-myung because he is an opposition leader, yet they simply arrested our president, who cannot flee. They detained him. Is that legitimate?"
The previous day, President Lee conveyed through Blue House Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung that there was talk that the nominee "needs to personally and more fully explain her remarks on the insurrection, which were unacceptable, and that it would be appropriate for her to express more clearly her intention to sever ties with that, that a clear statement of position from the nominee is needed."
The nominee said, "Standing before the weighty duty of becoming the inaugural Minister of Planning and Budget, I judged that I cannot move forward while covering up past mistakes." She added, "If the economic policy experience and expertise I have accumulated throughout my life can contribute even in a single part to the development of the Republic of Korea, I took it as the people's mandate to repay my misjudgment with the weight of state affairs."
Meanwhile, during a doorstep Q&A as she first arrived at the confirmation hearing office the previous day, the nominee was asked by reporters, "What do you think of the Lee Jae-myung administration's expansionary fiscal stance?" but did not answer. She received the same question that day and said, "I really have a lot to say on that," adding, "I will set a separate date."