Lee Hwa-Yeon

Governor of Haeseo Special Self-Governing Authority Lee Hwa-Yeon
Governor of Haeseo Special Self-Governing Authority
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 June 2024 (2024-06-26)
Preceded by	Lim Gun-Taek
Member of the Self-Governing Council
In office 15 June 2016 (2016-06-15) – 26 June 2024 (2024-06-26)
Personal details
Born	Lee Hwa-Yeon (1991-07-03) 3 July 1991 Haegyeong, Joseon
Political party	Democratic Political Party (2015-present)
Education	Seoul National University

Lee Hwa-Yeon is the incumbent governor of Haeseo. She has been in politics since 2015 and was known as a venture capitalist before entering politics. Lee Hwa-Yeon is known for her role as a member of the Self-Government Council from 2016 to 2024, mediating the needs of business and labor to come up with solutions and formulating policies to actively encourage young people to establish businesses.

Lee Hwa-Yeon is currently pushing for major policies to encourage business activities and income-led growth. However, some of her pro-business policies have been opposed by some members of her party, the Democratic Political Party.

Early life

Lee Hwa-Yeon was born and raised in Haegyeong. Since middle school, Lee Hwa-Yeon has shown a deep interest in economic structure and economic activities, and has been enthusiastic about participating in various economic-related student activities inside and outside the school.

In 2010, Lee Hwa-Yeon founded "Ryu Hwa Data," a venture company, with two high school classmates while attending university. Ryu Hwa Data was a paid provider of large-scale cloud data services to companies that needed large-scale cloud data storage capabilities, especially those related to artificial intelligence and AI algorithms. Lee Hwa-Yeon persuaded numerous investors to secure the massive amount of computer equipment and related facilities needed to deliver cloud services. The process was "a series of hardships," according to Lee Hwa-Yeon, but Lee Hwa-Yeon was able to launch the service after securing the initial investment. Although Ryu Hwa Data did not produce any tangible results in the two years since its launch, sales of Ryu Hwa Data began to skyrocket in 2013 as AI-related technologies began to gain traction. In 2015, Ryu Hwa Data became the company with the highest sales among venture companies founded less than 10 years ago.

In 2016, Lee Hwa-Yeon, along with colleagues who started the business with her, sold a stake in Ryu Hwa-Data to Soonyang Group. At the time, Lee Hwa-Yeon and colleagues received $1.2 billion in exchange for the sale of their stake in the company, which was 6,000 times the initial start-up capital.

Career

Lee Hwa-Yeon entered politics after sharing the proceeds of equity sales with her colleagues. At the time, the Democratic Political Party recruited people from various fields to expand the party's appearance, and Lee Hwa-Yeon was one of them. Lee Hwa-Yeon was elected as the proportional representative of the Self-Government Council in 2016, and began her political career. Lee Hwa-Yeon led various business assistance policies to help young people start venture businesses from the beginning of her political career and actively intervened in conflicting companies and labor unions. According to Lee Hwa-Yeon, what was most meaningful to her was her successful mediation of work intensity and wage increase conflicts between Miltec and company labor unions.

Lee Hwa-Yeon's youth venture start-up support policy is evaluated as a success. More than 80% of venture companies founded with the support of related policies within Haeseo continue to operate to this day, and 2% of them are listed on the list of top venture companies in Joseon.

Following the end of her term on the Self-Government Council in 2024, Lee Hwa-Yeon ran for governor with full support from within Democratic Political Party. As a result of the election, Lee Hwa-Yeon won the election with 56 percent of the vote, outpacing her opponent by 10 percent.

Political View

Although Lee Hwa-Yeon maintains the political line of the Democratic Political Party, a moderate progressive party, she is known to pursue more pro-business policies compared to the mainstream within the party. As Lee Hwa-Yeon's performance has been positive, these policies have received positive responses within the Democratic Political Party as well. There is also an assessment that she has contributed to winning policy cooperation from the conservative opposition National Social Party. However, some members of the Democratic Political Party and some opposition parties criticize Lee Hwa-Yeon's policies as being too one-sided.

As a politician, Lee Hwa-Yeon holds the view that politics should not hinder the economy, and at the same time, the state should actively intervene in the economic stability of the middle class and the poor. As for the reason Lee Hwa-Yeon has two views that can be considered heterogeneous at the same time, she said, "My success has only been because of sheer luck, and there are not a few people like me who have challenged and failed. I worry every day about the situation not only of them, but also of everyone who supports this society, and I just want to use the luck that has been given to me with value."