Minister nominee Lee Hye-hoon of the Ministry of Planning and Budget apologized on the 30th, saying, "During the rebellion, my judgment was lacking, and the responsibility for not acting courageously before the Constitution and democracy lies solely with me." She then said that when she was offered the post of 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 for work at the personnel hearing preparation office that day. The nominee brought and read aloud an 895-character piece she wrote herself, titled "Severance and liquidation, and integration."
The nominee said, "I candidly confess today that while engaged in politics as a member of a party during the rebellion, I was buried in partisanship and lost sight of the essence of the matter and the reality of the national community's crisis." She added, "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 those who were wounded, 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 been a figure who criticized progressive administrations' "expansionary fiscal policy." But on the 28th, President Lee Jae-myung made a surprise pick, naming the nominee as the inaugural Minister of Planning and Budget.
Since the Dec. 3 martial law, the nominee has publicly made remarks defending former President Yoon Suk-yeol. On Feb. 15, she attended the "rally in front of the Constitutional Court by party chapter heads opposing impeachment" and called the arrest and detention of the former president "an unfair investigation." She added, "They said Lee Jae-myung, as an opposition leader, had no risk of flight, yet they just arrested our president, who could not flee. They detained him. Is that legitimate?"
The president, a day earlier, through Blue House Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, conveyed that there was a view that the nominee "should personally offer fuller explanations regarding remarks about an intolerable rebellion and should more clearly express an intent to sever ties on that part; there was talk that a clear statement of position from the nominee is needed."
The nominee said, "Standing before the heavy duty of becoming the first Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, I judged that I cannot move forward while covering up past mistakes." She continued, "If the economic policy experience and expertise I have built up over my lifetime can contribute even one 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 doorstepping session as she arrived at the personnel hearing office for the first time the previous day, the nominee was asked by reporters, "What do you think about the Lee Jae-myung administration's expansionary fiscal stance?" but did not answer. Asked the same question that day, she said, "I truly have a lot to say on that," adding, "I will set a separate date."