Lee So-young, nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, faced questioning at a National Assembly hearing over gift tax linked to her mother’s 2022 jeonse deposit and allegations of speculative gap investment involving a Seoul apartment. Rep. Choi Soo-jin of the People Power Party said Lee and her spouse provided 99 million Korean won and 220 million Korean won, respectively, and argued that applying the statutory annual interest rate of 4.6% to the spouse’s contribution produced approximately 10.26 million won, above the 10 million won non-taxable limit. Lee said she had not known in advance that gift tax applied and completed the reporting and payment last week. She also denied the apartment allegation, saying she had not realized any profit through a sale, although the property’s estimated value rose from 490 million won in 2016 to around 990 million won.