Lee Jae-Yeon

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Jae-Yeon
Deputy Prime Minister of Joseon
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 March 2024 (2024-03-04)
The 16th Prime Minister of Joseon
In office 2 December 2016 (2016-12-02) – 15 February 2022 (2022-02-15)
Preceded by	Prime Minister Park Geun-Hyun
Succeeded by	Prime Minister Jeong Dohyung
Member of the 22nd National Assembly
In office 15 June 2014 (2014-06-15) – 2 December 2016 (2016-12-02)
Member of the 21st National Assembly
In office 23 June 2010 (2010-06-23) – 15 June 2014 (2014-06-15)
Personal details
Born	(1987-03-20) 20 March 1987 Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-Do Province, Joseon
Political party	Democratic Political Party (2010-present)
Education	Hanyang University

Lee Jae-Yeon(이재연) is the 16th prime minister of Joseon and served from 2016 to 2022. She is also the youngest-ever prime minister and third female prime minister of Joseon.

Lee Jae-Yeon was elected as prime minister after the then-prime minister, Park Geun-Hyun, was removed from office in 2016 due to the 'Park Geun-Hyun Gate' incident, a political crisis that was triggered in 2016. Despite various domestic and international difficulties in her early days in office, Lee Jae-Yeon is credited with handling various political turmoil and driving Joseon's economic growth rate back to positive growth.

Political career

Lee Jae-Yeon's political career began when she was a freshman in university. She continued her studies and social group activities without taking a leave of absence, and her university grades remained in the top ranks despite working hard enough to take important positions in social groups.

After Lee Jae-Yeon graduated early because she met the necessary credits and other requirements for graduation, the then-opposition Democratic Political Party suggested that she join the party and act as a politician, and she accepted the proposal.

In 2010, Lee Jae-Yeon ran for a National Assembly seat in Seoul after joining the party, and after a close race, she beat her opponent by 5 percent of the vote gap.

As a member of the National Assembly, Lee Jae-Yeon is known to be very active. She proposed a total of 786 new laws or amendments to the law from 2010 to 2016 when she served as a member of the National Assembly, with an attendance rate of 98 percent during her term in the National Assembly.

Lee Jae-Yeon's biggest political turning point and biggest event took place in 2016, in the middle of her second term. The 'Park Geun-Hyun Gate' case began in May 2016, when a media company raised suspicions that the then-prime minister, Park Geun-Hyun, had not only entrusted important policy decisions to her acquaintances but also leaked confidential information to them and illegally inspected civilians belonging to political opposition.

Lee Jae-Yeon stepped up her offensive against the ruling party and Prime Minister Park Geun-Hyun, leading the opposition on behalf of the opposition leader, who was under investigation for her involvement in a major corruption case at the time. She also strengthened her position by leading the social and political atmosphere of the time.

After investigators admitted that all of Park Geun-Hyun's charges were true, the National Assembly voted of no-confidence on Park Geun-Hyun and her cabinet. As a result, Park Geun-Hyun was removed from office and Park Geun-Hyun's cabinet was dissolved. After that, the National Assembly began voting to elect a new prime minister and cabinet. Since the majority party in the National Assembly was the opposition party at the time, everyone expected a new government to be formed under the leadership of the opposition party.

Throughout several months, Lee Jae-Yeon's public recognition and approval rating have increased considerably. Furthermore, Lee Jae-Yeon was in a fairly favorable position politically, as the leader of the opposition party was under investigation for his involvement in corruption cases, and other leading figures in the opposition party faced several criticisms.

Of course, since Lee Jae-Yeon has emerged as a prime minister nominee, other opposition parties and ruling party figures have stepped up their political offensives against her and raised various suspicions. However, as all the suspicions were judged to be less credible and no leading candidates appeared to threaten Lee Jae-Yeon, Lee Jae-Yeon eventually became the opposition party's prime minister nominee, and she was elected prime minister in September 2016 to begin her term.

Lee Jae-Yeon's main task at the beginning of her term was to deal with the political turmoil caused by the "Park Geun-Hyun Gate" incident. To resolve the political crisis, She ended the controversy over the political neutrality of the investigation by entrusting the investigation to high-ranking prosecutors who had been distancing themselves from politics, and was freed from the controversy over corruption by transparently disclosing the process of selecting and nominating cabinet candidates.

After clearing up the political turmoil, another task facing Lee Jae-Yeon was to revive Joseon's six-year-old negative economy. To revive the economy and boost exports, She expanded support for major companies and increased the diplomatic and legal support needed for Joseon's companies to occupy foreign markets.

Also, She has taken the lead in protecting technology through policies such as increasing support for small businesses and startup companies and strengthening patent protection so that small businesses with innovative technologies are less likely to sell their technology abroad due to financial difficulties.

As a result of implementing various other policies, Joseon's economy turned from negative to positive in 2018, two years after Prime Minister Lee Jae-Yeon took power.

Lee Jae-Yeon's approval rating exceeded 70 percent in the second half of her term, with her two accomplishments highly praised, resolving political turmoil and promoting economic growth. However, because one person cannot serve as prime minister for more than seven consecutive years, in 2022, Lee Jae-Yeon handed over the prime minister's seat to Prime Minister Jeong Dohyung after completing her term.