Lee Hye-hoon, the Minister of Planning and Budget nominee, on the 23rd explained allegations that she increased the number of dependents by listing her married eldest son as "sham single" to win a subscription for Raemian One Pentas in Banpo-dong, Seoul, saying the son and his wife were on the brink of divorce and could not file their marriage registration.
At the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee confirmation hearing that day, the nominee said, "I sincerely hoped I would not have to say this publicly, but as things have come to this, it seems I have no choice," and added, "In Dec. 2023, (my eldest son) planned to hold a wedding ceremony and set up a newlywed home. So they prepared a jeonse apartment in Yongsan by each paying 50%."
She went on, "But right after the wedding ceremony, a problem arose. The relationship between the two had broken down, and it was heading for the worst, so we thought it would be hard to sustain the marriage," adding, "So at the time, my eldest son was in a situation where he could not (file the marriage registration). (My eldest son) had no choice but to be with us, and we thought he would come with us."
Asked whether the eldest couple's relationship has since been restored, she said, "Truly, everyone put in a lot of effort," and added, "At that time, we judged it had broken down."
In response, Reform Party lawmaker Cheon Ha-ram said, "The timeline is astounding," adding, "Right up until just before the subscription notice, they kept them in the Yongsan jeonse apartment funded by the nominee and the father-in-law, and then when it was time for the nominee's family to move into One Pentas, amazingly, he steps aside."
Cheon said, "Just looking at this, it's not that the daughter-in-law and the eldest son were on bad terms. She's almost at the level of the world's most devoted daughter-in-law. She even got married so the father-in-law and mother-in-law could win a jackpot lottery subscription, yet she didn't even combine resident registrations and waited on the marriage registration—she's the ultimate 'devoted daughter-in-law,' isn't she? Can you malign such a devoted daughter-in-law in front of the public?"