SEOUL — South Korean President Lee Jae-myung approved the appointment of Han Sung-sook as prime minister on June 30, 2026. Han will officially take office as the 50th prime minister on July 1, 2026, becoming the nation's second female prime minister.

The National Assembly passed Han's confirmation motion on June 30, 2026, with a vote of 166 in favor and one invalid ballot from 167 lawmakers present. The People Power Party did not participate in the confirmation vote, citing unresolved allegations concerning illegal building extensions at Han's property. The party had previously boycotted an earlier vote to adopt Han's confirmation hearing report.

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik announced Han's nomination on June 7, 2026. Kang described Han as suitable to lead South Korea through an era of rapid artificial intelligence transformation. Han has a background as a technology executive and served one year as South Korea's first minister of SMEs and startups. She is the second prime minister under the Lee administration.

Kim Min-seok, the previous prime minister, left office on June 30, 2026, after offering his resignation following the local elections on June 3, 2026. President Lee Jae-myung marked his first anniversary in office on June 8, 2026. On that day, he said it seemed more appropriate for Kim Min-seok to take on another role.

During a senior secretaries' meeting on June 15, 2026, Kang Hoon-sik stated that 569 of 782 bills related to the government's policy agenda remained in the National Assembly. Kang also said that 41 tasks were running behind schedule, with 11 of them delayed more than six months. The KOSPI, South Korea's stock market index, first crossed the 5,000-point mark on January 22, 2026. Lee Jae-myung had made crossing this KOSPI mark a signature campaign promise. The Democratic Party, which controls the majority of the National Assembly and the speaker's post, held the chairship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee as of June 30, 2026. The nation's first female prime minister, Han Myeong-sook, served in the role from 2006 to 2007.