South Korea’s National Assembly will hold the confirmation hearing for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance nominee Lee Hyung-il at 10 a.m. on the 15th. Lawmakers are expected to focus on the government’s plan to raise next year’s total expenditure by 12.8% to ₩820.9 trillion, as well as proposed real estate tax changes and Lee’s ownership of a Gwacheon reconstruction apartment. Opposition parties have criticized the spending plan as extreme expansionary fiscal policy and argue that additional tax revenue should instead be used to repay government bonds. Lee said an active fiscal role is needed to address external uncertainties and structural economic problems, while acknowledging the need for fiscal-sustainability mechanisms and noting that countries have suspended or relaxed fiscal rules in the post-COVID era. The revised property-tax proposal would raise the deduction for actual-resident single-home owners to ₩1.4 billion while retaining the ₩1.2 billion deduction for non-residents, rather than reducing it to ₩900 million. For a non-resident single-home owner with an assessed value of ₩3 billion, the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax would rise from ₩7.747 million to ₩12.038 million next year, compared with ₩15.365 million under the original plan. Lee bought the Gwacheon apartment in February 2009 for ₩420 million and has held it for 17 years, but resident-registration records show only four months of actual residency. The hearing is expected to test the consistency of Lee’s residence-centered housing policy with his personal property ownership and tax position.