Finance Minister Nominee Who Led Tax Reform Was a Nonresident Owner of a Gwacheon Redevelopment Apartment

Lee Hyeong-il, the nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of finance, has been identified as a nonresident owner of a redevelopment apartment in Gwacheon, a Seoul-area city often described as “quasi-Gangnam.”

The disclosure has drawn criticism because Lee was involved in leading tax reform, while the Lee Jae-myung administration has sought to treat nonresident ownership of a single home as speculation and tighten taxation on such activity.

Property records registered with the personnel authorities’ public-service ethics system in March this year reportedly showed that Lee held the Gwacheon apartment. The details have raised questions about whether his personal property holdings align with the government’s stated approach to housing speculation.