YOO ADVANCES TO FINAL ROUND FOR WTO TOP POST

[Anchor Lead]

Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee has been shortlisted as a candidate for the post of WTO director general. All eyes are on whether she will be able to beat her rival, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to become the first Korean to win the post.

[Pkg]

Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee has become one of the final two candidates for the post of World Trade Organization director general. Bloomberg has reported two of the five candidates in the second round have made it to the final round. One of them being Yoo Myung-hee. Her rival is Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She has served as Nigeria's minister of finance and foreign affairs, and as a development economist at the World Bank. South Korea's Yoo, for her part, has a 25-year career as a trade expert. She participated in major trade negotiations, and is lauded for her hands-on experience required to lead the WTO. Back in July, Yoo stressed her ambition to restore the weakened reputation of the organization and bolster multilateral trade.

[Soundbite] YOO MYUNG-HEE(TRADE MINISTER(JUL. 2020))

Yoo's chances of winning the post will likely depend on whether she will be able to beat her African rival supported by developing nations and on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election amid the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. With the final two candidates being both women, the WTO is set to have the first female leader in 25 years. If elected, Yoo Myung-hee will be the first South Korean to head the high-profile organization. The WTO is to announce Yoo as a final candidate and the next step at a closed-door meeting on October 8 at 6 p.m. Korea time. The final winner will be selected by 164 member-states through negotiations that will continue through November 6.