Lee Ju-ho

Lee Ju-ho (; born 17 February 1961) is a South Korean economist who served as the acting president of South Korea from May to June 2025 and acting prime minister of South Korea from May to July 2025. He also served as the deputy prime minister and education minister from 2022 to 2025.

He is a professor at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

Early political career He served as a Korea Development Institute professor before entering the 17th National Assembly as a proportional representative in 2004. In January 2009, he served as the First Vice Minister of Education, Science and Technology in the Lee Myung-bak government, and as Minister in 2010, serving in that role until 2013. He was appointed Minister once more in 2022 in the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

As minister, Lee oversaw several key education changes. He established the Neulbom School program, which provided free after-school care to young elementary students, and oversaw efforts to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 seats, which ultimately failed. He also advocated for the use of digital textbooks, particularly artificial intelligence-based textbooks introduced this school year. The presidency itself was already vacant due to the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol. As acting president, Lee directed the military to elevate its preparedness posture to the "highest level," and called for meticulous preparations to ensure the "orderly" and "fair" conduct of the presidential election on June 3. Lee also directed acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho to thoroughly oversee military surveillance and readiness and to elevate the country's military preparedness posture to the highest level, to be able to respond "rapidly and sternly" to any and all types of provocations, also directing all public servants to maintain strict discipline when it came to their work and political neutrality ahead of the presidential election.

Lee acted as the prime minister until 4 July 2025, when Kim Min-seok's nomination for the position was confirmed.

Election results Year Elections Constituency Political party Votes (%) Results 2004 17th National Assembly General Election Proportional representation (12nd) GNP 7,613,660 (35.76%) Elected