His Excellency Han Duck-Soo is the 48th Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea. Previously, his many capacities included time as the Ambassador for the Republic of Korea to the United States from March 2009 to February 2012. PM Han is a longtime friend of KEI, having participated in the 2011 Ambassador’s Dialogue with the current KEI President & CEO and then-U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Kathleen Stephens. He also spoke at KEI’s 30th Anniversary Celebrations in 2012.
His 38-year public service career started at the Economic Planning Board (1970-1984) before joining what is now the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. He was Secretary to the President for Policy and Planning, and later Economic Affairs (2001-2002), Vice Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (1997-1998), and Assistant Minister for International Trade (1995-1996). He became Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1998-2001), Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001), President of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) (2003-2004), Minister of Finance and Economy and Deputy Minister (2005-2006) and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Facilitating KORUS FTA (2006). From April 2007 to February 2008, Han served as the 38th Prime Minister of Korea. After his service as prime minister, PM Han became a commissioner on the Commission on Growth and Development, created by the World Bank to review and reformulate the policies for sustainable development. He served as Ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2012 before becoming Chairman and CEO of the Korea International Trade Association from 2012 to 2015.
PM Han received a B.A. degree in Economics from Seoul National University and later a MA and PhD in Economics from Harvard University.
