Yoo Myung-hee, Chief Trade Negotiator, to Challenge WTO Director-General... Will Announce Candidacy Tomorrow

Yoo Myung-hee, Chief Negotiator of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is conversing with attendees at a meeting hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK) held on the 29th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Yoo Myung-hee, head of the Trade Negotiations Department at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is running for the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She is the third Korean to challenge for the WTO Director-General position.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 23rd, Yoo will hold a briefing at the Sejong Government Complex on the 24th to officially announce her candidacy. Previously, Yoo reportedly stated, "If I become the WTO Director-General, I will do my best as it will benefit the national interest."

This is Korea's third attempt to secure the WTO Director-General position. In 1994, Kim Cheol-soo, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and in 2012, Park Tae-ho, then head of the Trade Negotiations Department, ran but were not ultimately elected. The race for the next Director-General intensified last month when Roberto Azev?do, the current Director-General from Brazil, announced his sudden resignation with one year left in his term.

The candidate registration deadline is until the 8th of next month. If Yoo registers as a candidate, a total of five candidates will have declared their intention to run so far. They include Jes?s Seade, Deputy Foreign Minister for North American Affairs of Mexico; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chairperson of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) from Nigeria; Hamid Mamdouh, lawyer from Egypt; and Tudor Ulianovski, former Moldovan Ambassador to Geneva from Moldova.

Once nominated, candidates will campaign among member countries for three months, followed by a two-month process to narrow down the candidates to one. The WTO General Council Chair consults with the 164 member countries, repeatedly eliminating the candidate with the lowest support, until a final single candidate is unanimously endorsed.

The next Director-General will face the heavy responsibility of navigating the surge of protectionism worldwide after COVID-19, restoring the shaken status of the WTO amid US-China conflicts, and implementing necessary reforms.

Trade experts believe Korea has a good chance due to its intermediary position between the US and China and its exemplary COVID-19 response, which can play a role in the international community. One trade expert explained, "The key is what vision, goals, and roles are presented to the 164 WTO member countries," adding, "The WTO Director-General election process is an intense diplomatic battle that requires concentrating the capabilities and information of diplomatic missions worldwide, not just domestically."

Yoo, a graduate of Seoul National University’s Department of English Literature and a successful candidate of the 35th Administrative Examination, was the first female trade expert selected by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 1995. She served as the head of the Services and Competition division during the Korea-US FTA negotiations. In January 2018, she was appointed Director-General of Trade Negotiations, becoming the first female Grade 1 public official, known as the "star of civil servants," in the Ministry since its predecessor, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was established in 1948, and the first female official at the vice-ministerial level in the ministry. She is fluent in English, having served as a foreign press spokesperson in the Presidential Office under the Park Geun-hye administration in 2014, and holds a US lawyer license.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.