He presided over controversial education reforms including revamping the college entrance process and lowering the retirement age of teachers.

He later served under President Roh Moo-hyun as Prime Minister of South Korea from July 2004 to March 2006.

for allegedly dramatically lowering the scholastic competence of the so-called Lee Hae-chan generation of then-high school students.

The strike of railroad and subway unions at the same time proved to be a fatal blow to the nation's economic activity, especially Seoul area, where traffic heavily depended on subway, which was controlled by the two unions.

Prime Minister Lee was supposed to command the situation and mediate the strike; however, he was playing golf at Busan area with local businessmen, and this caused outrage among Korean people against Lee for not taking care of the government and people.