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(profile) Climate lawyer tapped as new SME minister

Yonhap News Agency · last updated

SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) — Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Minister nominee Lee So-young is a two-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), known for her career as a climate and environmental lawyer.

Lee, 41, passed the national bar exam in 2009 and worked as a lawyer at Kim & Chang, a leading law firm in South Korea.

After leaving the firm in 2016, she founded Solutions for Our Climate, a nonprofit organization focused on climate change and environmental issues.

In particular, she helped launch a social movement through the so-called “coal finance” campaign, which called for regulating public fund investments in coal-fired power generation.

Under the Moon Jae-in government, she served as a manager at the National Council on Climate and Air Quality.

Lee joined the ruling DP and was elected to the National Assembly in the 2020 and 2024 general elections.

This photo taken Aug. 25, 2026, shows Rep. Lee So-young of the ruling Democratic Party. (Yonhap)

brk@yna.co.kr
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