Lee Hun-jai
Lee Hun-jai (born April 17, 1944) is a South Korean politician who served as acting prime minister twice: May 19–22, 2000 and July 25–30, 2004. He acted as a temporary placeholder while others were officially nominated and approved for the job. He does not belong to any political party.
Lee was born in Shanghai, China. He finished Kyunggi High School in 1962 and earned a law degree from Seoul National University in 1966. He also earned a master's degree in economics from Boston University in 1981 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1982.
After passing the civil service exam in 1968, he joined the Finance Ministry in 1969. He helped avert a currency crisis in 1973 caused by an oil shortage. He left the Finance Ministry in 1981 and later returned.
Lee was chairman of the Korea Securities and Exchange Commission from 1991 to 1996 and chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission from 1998 to 2000. He was known as a tough reformer of business and banking.
He became finance minister for the first time in January 2000 and served until August 2000. He then became deputy prime minister and finance minister again in February 2004. He announced his resignation on March 7, 2005, after being linked to a real estate scandal, and left office about a week later once his replacement was chosen.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:20 (CET).