New Prime Minister Han Sung-sook vows to make South Korea 'irreplaceable'

Prime Minister Han Sung-sook said Wednesday she would devote every effort to resolving pressing livelihood issues, saying she takes the voices of South Korea's 52 million citizens "with great weight."

Han made the remarks at her inauguration as the 50th prime minister, held at the Government Complex Sejong. "I will pour everything I have — the experience of innovation built over 30 years on the ground — into making South Korea irreplaceable," she said in her first statement upon taking office.

Han is the second prime minister under the Lee Jae-myung administration and the second woman to hold the post in 20 years, following Han Myeong-sook, who became the country's first female prime minister in 2006.

Han outlined three priorities for making South Korea "irreplaceable": an AI transformation, growth for all citizens, and regionally led balanced development.

On AI, Han said the pace and outcome of the transformation "will determine South Korea's sustainable growth and future competitiveness," adding that a sweeping shift in growth strategy and systems — integrating AI across industry, the economy and society — is essential.

She said regulations that "shackle innovation" would be swiftly and boldly rationalized. Han also pledged to embed AI across industry, education, healthcare, welfare and public administration, and to spread what she called "AI for everyone" so that any citizen can easily use the technology.

Han also laid out plans to spread the gains of economic growth more broadly. "We must prevent the fruits of technological innovation, including AI, from falling into a vicious cycle that widens gaps and inequality," she said. "I will create a virtuous cycle in which the benefits of growth flow evenly — beyond large conglomerates — to small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, neighborhood commercial districts and workers."

On youth policy, she pledged to "open diverse windows of opportunity so the next generation can challenge themselves freely and let their potential bloom," and to build "a sturdy ladder of advancement" for young people to establish themselves as economic actors.

Han also named balanced regional development as a core task. "Under the five-hub, three-special-zone growth map, each region must stand tall as a center of innovation," she said, pledging to support regions in becoming anchors of advanced strategic industries and to connect industry, talent, culture and resources so each area can grow on its own strengths.

For the public sector, Han called for government innovation through AI. Working with the Ministry of Interior and Safety, she said, she would expand a work-use AI system — currently in pilot operation across four ministries — to all ministries by year's end.

She also set a goal of improving administrative efficiency through inter-ministry data linkage and cutting the number of public documents citizens must submit by half. Han said she would expand an AI personal assistant service so that permit applications and government project filings can be handled through conversational AI.

In addition, she said AI would be used to analyze data on suicide, industrial accidents and other incidents to develop tailored countermeasures, and that 100 categories of high-demand core public data sought by businesses and research institutions would be opened promptly.

"I must be judged not by words but by results — not by plans and measures but by outcomes," Han said. She pledged to deliver on five fronts: building an AI-powered government, rationalizing regulations on new industries, fostering a startup renaissance, creating a ladder of opportunity for youth, and advancing three major projects.

"I will be a prime minister who focuses on people's lives and gets things done — a prime minister who changes people's lives through technology," she added. "I will press forward without rest toward a Korea where the people are the masters and everyone thrives together."