Minister of Planning and Budget nominee Lee Hye-hoon told the National Assembly that her eldest son, who graduated from the Department of Economics at Yonsei University, “entered under the multiple-children admissions track,” but after being accused of giving a “false answer,” she corrected it to the “national prestige contributor track.” The opposition asked in return, “What national prestige did the eldest son enhance just because his grandfather received a decoration?”

At a confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 23rd, when Rep. Choi Eun-seok of the People Power Party pointed out that “although it was said the eldest son of the nominee enrolled in 2010 through the multiple-children track, Yonsei University did not have that track at the time,” Lee said, “It was 17 years ago, so I did not remember precisely,” and corrected the record to say that “(the eldest son enrolled not through the multiple-children track but) through the social contributor track.”

When Rep. Choi asked, “Did he enroll as a national prestige contributor within the social contributor track?” Lee answered, “That was confirmed. Grandchildren of people who received the Cheongjo Order of Service Merit, etc., are recognized as national prestige contributors.” Lee’s father-in-law, former Home Affairs Minister Kim Tae-ho, received the Hongjo Order of Service Merit in 1982 and the Cheongjo Order of Service Merit in 1990.

Citing the recruitment guidelines for the ‘social contributor track’ at Yonsei University at the time, Rep. Choi said, “To be recognized as a national prestige contributor, one must have received a globally prestigious award in academia, culture, arts, science, industry, or sports, or be a person who enhanced the national prestige of the Republic of Korea, or the children or grandchildren of such a person,” and asked, “Did the grandfather receiving an order of merit enhance our country’s prestige?”

Lee responded, “Under the (admissions) criteria of Yonsei University, the types of decorations for national prestige contributors include the Cheongjo Order of Service Merit, etc., and because my father-in-law was recognized for lifelong public service and received the Cheongjo Order of Service Merit, that satisfied the eligibility requirement.” Lee added, “It was the second son who applied under the multiple-children track, but I mixed up the eldest and the second son,” and said, “The second son did not enter Yonsei University.”

The eldest son of Lee has also faced criticism that he made use of a so-called ‘dad chance paper’ during the hiring process in 2023 at the state-funded research institute, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). At the time, he submitted as experience on his resume a paper for which his father, Kim Young-se, a professor in the Department of Economics at Yonsei University, was listed as the corresponding author.