Korean leaders urge support for Yoo's WTO election bid
Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee leaves for Europe ahead of before advancing to the third and final round of the election for the World Trade Organization (WTO) director-general, Oct. 12. / Yonhap.
By Yi Whan-woo
President Moon Jae-in and leaders of the government and the National Assembly are making final efforts to support Korean candidate Yoo Myung-hee in the election for next chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The all-out campaign for Yoo, the country's trade minister, comes as a consensus of 164 WTO member countries is required for the new WTO director-general to be named in the election expected on Nov. 7. If elected, Yoo will be the first WTO head from Korea.
Citing observers, Bloomberg reported last week that the United States was inclined toward Yoo, while the European Union and the 55-member African Union prefer Yoo's only rival ― Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria.
Bloomberg said China and other major economies like Brazil and India remain unclear in their preferences.
Against this backdrop, President Moon Jae-in asked for support for Yoo in phone conversations on Oct. 21 with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The President also sought support for Yoo when he received letters of credential from six new ambassadors to Korea at Cheong Wa Dae, Oct. 15.
The six were Zakariya Hamed Hilal Al Saadi of Oman, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch of Pakistan, Gloria Margarita Cid Carreno of Chile, Wolfgang Angerholzer of Austria, Nguyen Vu Tung of Vietnam and Michael Reiffenstuel of Germany.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun requested support for Yoo's bid in a letter sent to 27 countries in Europe, Central and South America and Southeast Asia.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha separately requested support for Yoo during telephone conversations with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Oct. 22.
From Oct. 20 to 21, Kang did the same when she talked with the foreign ministers of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden, either by telephone or via video conferencing.
Political pundits and National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug and Song Young-gil, chairman of the Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, have been asking for help “whenever they had chance” to talk with ambassadors to Korea and parliamentarians from countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Central America.