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Prime minister nominee Han Seong-suk responds to lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 25th. / Courtesy of Yonhap News Agency

President Lee Jae-myung approved the appointment of prime minister nominee Han Seong-suk on the 30th. Han becomes the second prime minister of the Lee Jae-myung administration and the nation's 50th prime minister, making her South Korea's second female premier and the first in 20 years since former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook in 2006.

According to the Blue House on July 1st, Blue House Senior Press Secretary Kang Yu-jung announced via a press notice around 11 p.m. the previous night that President Lee had ratified Han's appointment.

The National Assembly held a plenary session the previous afternoon and passed the confirmation motion for Han with 166 votes in favor and 1 invalid vote out of the 167 lawmakers present. This comes 23 days after President Lee nominated Han on the 7th to succeed Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, and 19 days after the formal confirmation request was submitted to parliament on the 11th of the same month.

Earlier that day, the National Assembly's special confirmation committee adopted Han's confirmation report, led by the main opposition Democratic Party. The ruling People Power Party boycotted the meeting in protest of the motion being tabled.

Prime Minister Han has a background as a business executive, having served as the CEO of Naver for seven years since 2017. Following the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, she served as its inaugural Minister of Startups and SMEs.

Meanwhile, outgoing Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, the first premier of the Lee administration, concluded his term at midnight on the 30th.

During his final cabinet meeting attended by Kim the previous morning, President Lee remarked, "Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, the prime minister will be replaced shortly. I would like to deeply thank Prime Minister Kim Min-seok for his hard work and dedication."

                                                                                                       Park Young-hoon