Lee Hyoung-il Appointed New Finance Minister of South Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- Lee Hyoung-il, named new finance minister Sunday, is known as a macroeconomic expert with extensive experience in financial and economic policy.

Lee, 55, began his civil service career after passing the national civil service exam in 1992 while studying economics at Seoul National University.

He built his expertise in macroeconomics while serving in key posts at the Economic Policy Bureau of the finance ministry.

He served as deputy finance minister and presidential secretary for economic policy under the former Moon Jae-in government and was later promoted to head of Statistics Korea, the predecessor of the Ministry of Data and Statistics, under the following Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

As the first vice finance minister, Lee was in charge of managing and operating the fuel price cap system, which was aimed at stabilizing domestic fuel prices amid supply chain disruptions stemming from the war between the United States and Iran in the Middle East.

Lee is regarded by colleagues as a gentle and reasonable official, having been named as a "role model" three times in surveys carried out on finance ministry officials.