Won Hee-ryong

Won Hee-ryong (Korean: 원희룡; born February 14, 1964) is a South Korean politician [1] who is the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport from May 2022 to December 2023, when he resigned to run for a parliamentary seat in Incheon, held by Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.

He is well known for being ranked first in two major state examinations: the College Scholastic Ability Test (1982) and the National Judicial Exam (1992).

He has been a member of World Economic Forum since 2003 and was elected as a young global leader by WEF (2005[2]).

In April 2022, he was nominated as Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport by Yoon Suk Yeol, then-president-elect.

Controversies around his use of public money on omakase, and various traffic violations he committed over the years rose during his confirmation hearing.