Han Sung-sook, the minister of SMEs and Startups nominated as prime minister candidate, is widely known as Naver's first female CEO. She is regarded as a hands-on expert who combines practical business experience with government experience gained as minister of SMEs and Startups.
Han graduated from Uijeongbu Girls' High School and Sookmyung Women's University with a degree in English language and literature, then began her career as a reporter for the computer trade publication Mincom. She later served as head of public relations at Nanum Technology before joining the search portal Empas as a founding member in 1997.
She moved to NHN, Naver's predecessor, and went on to play a key role in the company's growth, becoming the first woman appointed CEO of Naver in 2017. She led the company through 2022, expanding it around video, commerce and payment services. During her tenure, annual sales grew from roughly 4 trillion won to 6.5 trillion won by 2020.
Those achievements earned her a spot on Fortune magazine's list of the 50 most powerful women in business for four consecutive years, from 2017 to 2020.
As minister of SMEs and Startups, she is credited with shifting the ministry's policy direction from protection-focused to growth-focused. Her initiatives included a national startup talent development program, "Everyone's Startup Project," designed to give anyone in the country the opportunity to launch a business.
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik explained the nomination, saying Han would "complete the AI transformation — the defining challenge of our era — without disruption and lead growth for all of Korea, drawing on her experience as the head of an IT company and as minister of SMEs and Startups." He added that she was "the right person to take responsibility for shared growth and people's livelihoods at a time of sweeping national strategic transformation in the face of AI innovation and a complex global crisis."
Kang also described Han as "a self-made leader who started as an ordinary office worker and rose to head a major digital company," saying she "combines private-sector pragmatism and innovation and understands better than anyone the need for an AI transformation in our society."
He went on to say that "as minister, her emphasis on speed, results and being on the ground produced tangible outcomes — including record-high exports by small and medium-sized enterprises and a more vibrant startup ecosystem — in her efforts to drive growth for SMEs, small business owners and everyone else."
"If her innovation and experience as minister of SMEs and Startups are combined with the opportunity of serving as prime minister," Kang added, "it will be possible to translate Korea's economic growth — driven by the semiconductor boom and rising exports — into shared prosperity for SMEs, small business owners, local commercial districts and all citizens."
dlcw@heraldcorp.com
