Han Seong-sook Nominated as Minister of SMEs and Startups... First-Generation IT Expert (Comprehensive)

SME Community: "The Right Person to Build a Digital Ecosystem for SMEs and Small Business Owners"

Han Seong-sook (pictured), an advisor at Naver, was nominated on June 23 as the first Minister of SMEs and Startups under the Lee Jae-myung administration. She is a prominent first-generation information technology (IT) expert and served as CEO of Naver for five years, witnessing the early days of the domestic portal industry as a female leader.

Born in Gyeonggi Province, Han graduated from Sookmyung Women's University with a degree in English Language and Literature in 1989 and began her career as a journalist at the computer magazine Mincom. Starting in December 1994, she served as a director at Knowledge Powerhouse and, as a founding member of Empas, led the search business division until July 2006. At Empas, she introduced the "Open Search" service, which provided search results from other portal sites as well.

She joined NHN, the predecessor of Naver, in 2007 and held key positions such as Head of the Search Quality Center, Head of the Service Division, and Chief Service Officer. She is credited with playing a leading role in Naver's rise to become the top internet company in Korea. She also contributed to Naver's industry-first introduction of partial paid content for webtoons and the launch of the simple payment service Naver Pay.

In March 2017, she became CEO of Naver and served as CEO for five years until 2022. During her tenure, Naver experienced growth centered on video and payment businesses. The company achieved annual sales of 5 trillion won in 2019 and 6 trillion won in 2020, maintaining strong growth during the COVID-19 period.

Based on these achievements, Han was named one of Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in the World" for four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020. She stepped down as CEO in March 2022 and took on the role of Head of European Business Development. Earlier this year, she was appointed as an advisor.

During the era of smartphone adoption, Han specialized Naver as a mobile platform and contributed to the expansion of its global services. Internally, she is recognized for her open communication skills and rational leadership.

Kang Hoon-sik, Chief Presidential Secretary, stated, "Han led innovation at Line and Naver Webtoon," adding, "With her extensive experience and understanding of the relevant fields, she will bring new perspectives to the strategy for fostering SMEs and startups."

The small and medium-sized business community also has high expectations for Han. The Korea Federation of SMEs issued a statement on this day, saying, "The SME community welcomes the nomination of Han Seong-sook as the first Minister of SMEs and Startups under the Lee Jae-myung administration," and added, "Han, with her long experience in IT industries such as Naver, is the right person to build a digital ecosystem, including promoting AI and digitalization among SMEs and small business owners during this era of industrial transformation."