From 'top tutor' on highway scandal to Lee's 'straight-talking adviser': Who is Lee So-young, the new SME minister nominee?

Lee So-young, the Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker nominated Sunday by President Lee Jae Myung as minister of SMEs and Startups, is a climate and environmental law specialist who previously practiced at Kim & Chang. Born in 1985, she won re-election in the Uiwang-Gwacheon constituency of Gyeonggi Province. She entered politics in 2020 as the Democratic Party's eighth recruited talent and has since served on the Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, among others. Cheong Wa Dae said she "has accumulated broad policy experience spanning innovative growth to the everyday economy, actively pursuing legislation to support startups and protect small business owners."

One of the episodes that most raised Lee's public profile was the 2023 controversy over a proposed change to the terminal point of the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway. Suspicions of preferential treatment arose after it emerged that the route had been redirected toward land owned by relatives of Kim Keon Hee, then-President Yoon Suk Yeol's wife. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and then-Minister Won Hee-ryong denied any favoritism, arguing the alternative route offered stronger economic viability, while Lee and other opposition lawmakers pressed hard on the rerouting process and the underlying cost-benefit analysis.

At a plenary session of the National Assembly's Land Committee in July of that year, Lee questioned Won directly about the development potential of land owned by Kim's family. Won replied that the parcels were restricted by waterfront zone designations and other regulations, making development difficult. Lee pushed back, projecting relevant provisions of the Han River Basin Water Management Act and the National Land Planning Act on screen and arguing that lifting the waterfront zone designation and applying a district-unit plan were both legally possible. "Saying development is impossible is wrong on two counts," she told Won.

In August of the same year, Lee asked whether Won had ever verified with Kim's side how the land had been acquired; Won said he had not. In September, she pressed him on whether 78 former officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Expressway Corporation and LH — all employed by the contractor that proposed the Gangsang-myeon alternative route — had influenced the route selection. At the October national audit, she challenged the ministry's own analysis showing that shifting the terminal point by about 7 kilometers would increase daily traffic by 6,078 vehicles, or 22.5 percent, questioning the basis for those calculations.

As her questioning was repeatedly covered in the media, Lee acquired the nickname "top tutor on Yangpyeong" — a play on Won's own self-styled label of "top tutor on Daejang-dong" during the Daejang-dong development scandal. Lee herself later leaned into the moniker, introducing herself at the 2023 Land Committee national audit as "the top tutor on the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway," citing her sustained offensive on the allegations of preferential treatment for the president's in-laws.

Capital markets have been Lee's most recent legislative focus. A Commercial Act amendment she led in April 2025 added "the interests of all shareholders" to the scope of directors' fiduciary duties and barred directors from prioritizing the interests of any particular shareholder. She also led an income tax amendment introducing separate taxation of dividend income. Under the bill, dividends paid by listed companies with a payout ratio of at least 35 percent would be taxed separately from aggregate income — at 14 percent on amounts up to 20 million won ($14,500), 20 percent on amounts between 20 million won and 300 million won, and 25 percent on amounts above 300 million won. Both bills were incorporated into substitute legislation and passed the full Assembly.

The bill that drew particular interest from President Lee was an inheritance and gift tax amendment Lee introduced on May 9, 2025 — informally dubbed the "share-price suppression prevention bill." Under current law, listed shares are valued for inheritance and gift tax purposes using the average share price over the two months before and after the valuation date. Lee argued this structure creates an incentive for controlling shareholders to keep share prices artificially low ahead of a succession, since a lower price means a lower tax bill.

The bill proposed that when a listed company's share price falls below 80 percent of net asset value — a price-to-book ratio below 0.8 — the shares would be valued like unlisted stock, reflecting both asset value and earnings value, with a floor set at 80 percent of net asset value. It also called for abolishing the 20 percent premium applied to listed shares held by controlling shareholders and allowing inheritance and gift taxes to be paid in kind with listed shares — all aimed at reducing the incentive for major shareholders to artificially suppress prices ahead of a succession.

On Saturday, the day before the bill's formal introduction, Lee presented the concept at a gathering that included then-presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung and a group of economics-focused YouTubers. The president responded, "I want my name on this bill as a co-sponsor," and when Lee said she was about to introduce it, added, "If you ask me to sign, I'll sign." At the same event, the president expressed support for the dividend separate-taxation bill Lee had introduced earlier.

President Lee's direct working relationship with Lee So-young dates to the 20th presidential election in 2022, when she served as his on-site spokesperson and traveling spokesperson for roughly five months. She took turns with fellow lawmaker Hong Jeong-min riding in the candidate's Carnival van as the campaign traveled the country.

During the campaign, the president publicly described Lee as a "straight-talking adviser." Speaking to reporters on the trail, he said she was "the person among those traveling with me in the field who gives me the most direct and realistic advice." He added that when she thought something was not working, she would frankly explain why — "and I don't find that unpleasant," he said.

In the 2025 presidential race, Lee again took on a central operational role in the Lee Jae Myung campaign. She headed the primary campaign's TV debate team, overseeing all debate preparation, and earned the internal nickname "Detail Lee" — a nod to her attention to everything from document formatting to the logic of debate arguments. In 2022 she had been the candidate's companion on the ground; in 2025 she shaped his message and debate performance.

During her time on the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, SMEs and Startups Committee, Lee introduced legislation targeting intellectual property dispute costs for small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies, as well as environmental regulation compliance for companies in industrial complexes. A notable example was a package of amendments to the Invention Promotion Act, Patent Act, Trademark Act and Design Protection Act, introduced on Nov. 17, 2020.

In her explanatory statement for the bills, Lee wrote that litigation-centered IP disputes are costly and time-consuming, placing "a heavy burden on small and medium-sized enterprises." She cited the particular disadvantage faced by cash-strapped SMEs and venture companies when disputes drag on. The amendments proposed introducing a "trial-mediation linkage system" allowing patent, trademark and design tribunal cases to be referred to the Industrial Property Dispute Mediation Committee.

In January 2021, she also introduced an amendment to the Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act. The core of the bill was adding greenhouse gas reduction activities — including improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy use among companies in industrial complexes — to the mandate of the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation. Lee cited in her explanatory statement the trend of global companies such as Google, Apple and BMW joining the RE100 initiative and requiring their suppliers to use renewable energy, arguing that carbon regulations could undermine the export competitiveness of domestic manufacturing partners.

Lee also engaged with startup regulation. As a member of "Unicorn Farm," a National Assembly research group focused on venture and startup support, she introduced a so-called "LawTalk bill" — an amendment to the Attorney-at-Law Act — in 2023. The bill proposed that the scope of restrictions on lawyer advertising be set by presidential decree rather than by internal Korean Bar Association rules, with the aim of resolving regulatory conflicts between legal-tech platforms and established professional bodies. Unicorn Farm renewed its call for the bill's passage in 2024, stating that "new industries must be supported to develop."