From blind date to first lady: Kim Hye-kyung’s journey with South Korea’s president
South Korean First Lady Kim Hye-kyung was the president’s third blind date match in a month
In August 1990, Lee Jae-myung, a newly qualified lawyer, made the bold decision to marry one of the five women he had blind dates with in a single month.
With the same determination that would later characterise his political career, Lee arranged the five blind dates. Kim Hye-kyung, his third match, has remained by his side ever since, standing beside him during Wednesday’s inauguration.
South Korea’s new first lady was born into a middle-class family in Seoul in 1966. She graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School and studied piano at Sookmyung Women’s University.
She met Lee while preparing to study in Austria, but seven months later, those plans changed when she married him, launching a turbulent 35-year political journey.
When Lee entered politics in the early 2000s, Kim initially opposed the move. But as she saw him drive change in the community and build public support as mayor of Seongnam, her opposition gave way to support.
During his first presidential bid in 2017, she accompanied him on regional campaign stops and even appeared alongside him on entertainment programmes.
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