▲ New Prime Minister Han Seong-sook speaks to reporters upon arrival at the government complex in Seoul on her first day as prime minister on July 1, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ Prime Minister Kim Min-seok smiles during his departure ceremony on July 1, 2026. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) PM-inauguration

(LEAD) New PM vows to help gov't keep up with fast-changing private sector

(ATTN: UPDATES with new PM taking office; CHANGES slug, headline)

SEOUL, July 1 (Yonhap) -- New Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said Wednesday she will try to help the government keep up with the fast-changing private sector and implement necessary policies at the right time.

Han made the remark to reporters upon arrival at the government complex in Seoul on her first day in office, saying her lifelong career as an information technology expert before joining the government last year allows her to understand both the private and public sectors.

"The status of our country is changing from a nation chasing the great upheaval to a country leading that upheaval," Han said. "To keep up with this, the government should move more swiftly, and I will make my best efforts to ensure necessary policies are implemented at the right time."

"The languages of the public and private sectors should go together and both sides should keep pace with each other," she said. "My role is to get the government to move in sync as I have a little understanding of industries, and grasped the language of the public sector even though it was a short period of time."

Han said she will help bolder investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and other high-tech industries and remove regulatory obstacles to innovation so that the achievements from such efforts can seep into the lives of people and serve as an opportunity for younger generations to leap forward.

Earlier in the day, her predecessor, Kim Min-seok, bade farewell, asking civil servants to put the people's lives and the socially vulnerable ahead of anything else.

"I think politics is to see the future through the eyes of the weak," Kim said during his departure ceremony, pointing to his official prime ministerial tie that features a pattern of sheep with an empty space in the center.

"This is an expression of our pledge to look after and take care of all, with no one left behind, in the course of (the economic) recovery, growth and a leap forward," he said. "I hope you will maintain the attitude of civil servants in the Lee Jae Myung administration to put the top priority on people's lives and the weak."

Kim is widely expected to run for leader of the ruling Democratic Party.

"I will work with a greater sense of responsibility in the new arena to back the success of the Lee Jae Myung government and open up a new era," he said.

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