Hyundai Mobis CEO Jo Seong-hwan, First Korean to Run for Next ISO President

Jonghwan Cho, President of Hyundai Mobis

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Cho Seonghwan, CEO (President) of Hyundai Mobis, is challenging to become the first Korean president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's National Institute of Technology and Standards announced on the 21st that CEO Cho has declared his candidacy for the next ISO president. The National Institute of Technology and Standards plans to support Cho's election campaign. If CEO Cho is elected president, he will undergo a one-year transition period as the president-elect and begin his term the following year.

ISO is the world's largest standardization organization by number of standards. Along with ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are considered the world's three major standard organizations. ISO holds about 24,000 international standard certification systems, making it the largest in scale. IEC and ITU hold approximately 13,000 and 4,000 international standard systems respectively. As of 2020, ISO has a total of 165 member countries.

The ISO president serves as the chair of the general assembly and the board of directors, exerting influence over decision-making related to international standards. The president is elected through a vote by full members. It is customary for the elected president to choose a term of either two or three years; CEO Cho has chosen two years. The current president, Ulrika Francke, has a term until next year. CEO Cho is running as a candidate for the 2024-2025 presidency. The next presidential election will be held at the general assembly in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in September, where full members (124 countries) will vote.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards, after searching for candidates for the ISO presidency, judged CEO Cho to be a person with experience and capability and proposed his candidacy. CEO Cho decided to run, seeing it as an opportunity to contribute to the activation of international standards on a personal level. Besides CEO Cho, Decheng Wang, Director General of the China Machinery and Chemical Research Institute, has also declared candidacy.

A representative of the National Institute of Technology and Standards stated, “We will actively support candidate Cho Seonghwan’s election campaign by utilizing the close cooperative relationships we have built with ISO member countries, conducting bilateral meetings with member countries, and promoting to regional standardization organizations.”

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