Han has held several senior-level positions in the Korean government, beginning as Secretary to the President for Economic Affairs (1993-1994), then as Vice Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (1997-1998), and as Assistant Minister for International Trade (1998-2001). He progressed in his career to Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1998-2001), Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2001), President of the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) (2003-2004), and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Facilitating KORUS FTA (2006). From April 2, 2007, to February 29, 2008, Han served as the 38th Prime Minister of South Korea. After his service as prime minister and before his inauguration as ambassador, Han became a commissioner on the Commission on Growth and Development, created by the World Bank to review and reformulate the Washington Consensus. In early 2008, the commission’s final report, The Growth Report (PDF), was published, examining the top thirteen fastest growing economies in order to discern key policies and strategies that can be applied to developing countries.

   

Han will play a key part in the U.S. ratification of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which was signed in June of 2007. As a supporter of an open-door policy and deregulation, he has been an avid advocate for the KORUS FTA and has headed a South Korean presidential committee with the task of generating popular support for it. Han said the approval of the KORUS FTA could be "a kind of stimulus package without another fiscal burden" and that he saw "a short window of opportunity”² for it to be signed before June of 2010.