'2 Strong - 3 Medium - 3 Weak' WTO Director-General Election... Yoo Myung-hee Secures Position Among Top 3 (Summary)

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China-backed Leading Nigeria & UK Rivalry
Early Top 3 Positioning Strategies
Casting Voter EU... Germany & France Key

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US & China Neutral Tough Strategy

Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Trade Negotiator of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, holds a press conference after delivering her policy speech as a candidate for the Director-General at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 16th (local time).
(Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Yoo Myung-hee, head of the Trade Negotiations Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, gave a policy speech and held a press conference on the 16th (local time) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, as a candidate for WTO Director-General. After the final policy speeches by Saudi Arabia's Muhammad Mazyad Altwaizri and the United Kingdom's Liam Fox on the 17th, the eight candidates will officially enter the election campaign. Member countries are expected to elect the next Director-General by early November at the latest through consultations. The eight countries that have nominated candidates have already launched intense diplomatic campaigns targeting the 164 WTO member countries. South Korea's primary goal among the eight candidates is to rank within the top three.

According to experts in diplomacy and trade, the key to this WTO Director-General election is the voting bloc of the European Union (EU), which consists of 26 countries.

The current situation is evaluated as '2 strong - 3 medium - 3 weak.' Nigeria and the United Kingdom are the two strong candidates; South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Moldova are medium; and Kenya, Egypt, and Mexico are considered weak. Nigeria's strengths include high candidate recognition and potential support from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. The UK’s advantage lies in having a candidate with extensive experience in the European trade arena. Mexico is at a disadvantage in this election as it is a Latin American country like Brazil, the home country of the current Director-General Roberto Azev?do. Kenya and Egypt are considered to be trailing Nigeria within Africa.

China is expected to support African candidates under the pretext of backing developing countries. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chair of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), is regarded as the leading African candidate. Japan has also declared support for Chair Okonjo-Iweala. However, the fact that Africa, which has three candidates, has not unified behind a single candidate is a weakness as it may split votes.

Liam Fox, a former UK International Trade Secretary, is also considered to have recognition comparable to Chair Okonjo-Iweala. However, the UK is currently in conflict with the EU over Brexit. Attention is focused on the positions that Germany and France will take.

Experts say that if the EU’s 26 votes consolidate behind Nigeria, the Nigerian candidate could quickly establish a dominant position with the support of the 'EU + China and Japan.' Considering Japan’s active Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Southeast Asia, votes from several Asian countries could also shift accordingly. This would be the worst-case scenario for South Korea, which needs to secure Asian support. Professor Kang In-soo of the Department of Economics at Sookmyung Women’s University said, "The EU is a traditional casting voter that tends to concentrate votes on similar candidates according to the intentions of major countries such as Germany and France."

Therefore, the prevailing opinion is that South Korea’s realistic strategy should be to have the UK receive EU support to disperse votes that might otherwise go to Nigeria → win the competition against the other three medium and three weak candidates → and then target Germany, France, and others in the upper rounds to face Nigeria and the UK in the final showdown.

In his policy speech, Director Yoo emphasized that he is the right person to restore WTO functions and rebuild trust in the multilateral trading system. He mentioned ▲achieving results in fisheries subsidies and e-commerce negotiations at the 12th Ministerial Conference ▲WTO reform through updating WTO rules, restoring the dispute settlement system, and enhancing implementation and transparency of agreements ▲inclusive trade and sustainable development.

At the press conference, in response to a Japanese reporter’s question about whether he would support Japan like other member countries despite trade disputes between the two countries, Director Yoo emphasized, "South Korea and Japan are beneficiaries of the multilateral trading system," and "We must cooperate to restore trust in the WTO."

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