Feminists and Confucian scholars are hopeful that Lee's role at the ceremony is more than just a gesture.
"I want to believe that it will have an impact on gender-related awareness in modern Korean society," says Kim Seseoria, a researcher at Sungkyunkwan University's Institute of Confucian Philosophy and Culture in Seoul. "Even if it isn't intended, it can also create a momentum for resistance to, or escape from, traditions," she adds.
Hwa Yeong Wang, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University who specializes in philosophy and women's studies, agrees. "Confucianism must be reconciled with feminism," she says. "That is really a desperate thing we need for Korean women."
Neither Kim nor Wang are proposing totally rejecting Confucianism, as that would sever cultural roots.
"I also identify myself as a Confucian," says Wang. "There is a great deal that Confucianism can still teach us to become a better human."
Wang says that Confucianism stresses cultivating morality and spreading it to the family, the nation and the world.
Hopes for a new reading of Confucius
Instead, Kim and Wang suggest reinterpreting Confucius and the work that recounts his words and thoughts, called the Analects.
"We can try tweaking the way we read the Analects, for example, and not strictly following the traditional way," Kim says.