SEOUL– Having served in a number of high-ranking positions for four decades in public service, Prime Minister nominee Han Duck-soo is expected to bring his signature work ethic and expertise in key areas of government affairs in his second tour of duty.
Once his nomination passes the confirmation process at the National Assembly, Han, 72, will be only the third person to serve as prime minister under both a liberal president and a conservative president.
Han was the last prime minister during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration from 2007 to 2008. He had also been the finance minister during Roh’s regime.
Han served under another liberal president, Kim Dae-jung, as the trade minister, chief secretary for policy planning and chief secretary for economic affairs.
Han’s history with the liberal ex-presidents could potentially reduce chances of his nomination being blocked by the Democratic Party.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is also said to have been sold on Han’s broad range of experiences, which make him just the right person to oversee economic and national security affairs — the two areas at the top of Yoon’s priority list.
Han, with a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, is considered a trade specialist but also has expertise in foreign affairs, having been South Korea’s ambassador to the United States.
He is credited with playing an integral part in negotiating a free trade pact with Washington. He was the finance minister, doubling as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, while early free trade talks were under way in 2006. Han later became the special envoy to Korea-U.S. FTA talks.
Then during the ratification process for the trade pact, Han visited U.S. local governments to try to earn their support for the agreement.
Han also spent three years as the head of the Korea International Trade Association, starting in 2012.
During his time in the trade ministry in the 1990s, Han earned a reputation as a diligent worker with a single-minded focus, a label that has come to define his public service career.
Han had most recently been an outside director for the local refinery S-Oil.
Source: Yonhap News Agency