South Korean Media Revealed That The Country’s WTO Director-General Candidate Will Announce His Withdrawal From The Korean Foreign Ministry’s Response | WTO

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Original caption: South Korean media revealed that South Korea’s candidate for WTO Director-General will announce his retirement, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded.

[Texto / Observador Wang Xiong Chaoran]In the final stage of the selection of the new Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria and Yu Mingxi from South Korea became the final two candidates. However, in the nomination discussion held on October 28, all the countries present expressed their support for Okonjo-Iweala, and only the United States chose to support Yu Mingxi.

By customary procedures, Oconjo Iweala, who has received the support of the majority of member states, is likely to become the final candidate, but the US government’s insistence on “against the current” has led to a stalemate in the selection of the CEO.

According to an exclusive report by Korean media Chosun Ilbo on November 5, based on the current situation, the South Korean government “has indeed decided” to allow Yu Myung Hee to withdraw from the elections, which will be announced next week. After the report was issued, the South Korean Foreign Ministry responded that: The government is thoroughly considering and has not yet made a decision.

　　Source: South Korea wants to “respectfully withdraw“announced next week

According to Chosun Ilbo, citing a government source, the South Korean government has decided to let Yu Myung Hee, the head of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the Minister of Trade and Negotiations withdraw from the race for the post of director. WTO General.

“I heard that Minister Yu Myung Hee will announce his withdrawal from the elections soon.” The source said that the South Korean government has been considering the right time to announce the news, and it will be next week at the earliest. However, considering that the United States does not want Yu Myung Hee to withdraw from the elections, the South Korean government is still conducting final discussions on this.

In fact, in the nomination discussion on October 28, Okonjo-Iweala won the support of more member states than Yu Mingxi. According to general practice, candidates at an absolute disadvantage will no longer stand for election, but will choose to withdraw in the middle, so that the candidate with the majority support is elected the new WTO Director-General by unanimous vote.

However, Chosun Ilbo also noted in the report that the South Korean government has been shelving Yu Mingxi’s plan to withdraw from the elections because the United States has made an exception to publicly support Yu Myung Hee.

The report also said that while the attitude and position of the United States should be considered, the South Korean side should also consider other member states. In the current situation, in which it is difficult to obtain the support of the majority of the Member States, if the selection process is paralyzed by disobeying the opinion of the majority, South Korea will face dissatisfaction and diplomatic pressure from others. countries.

Furthermore, as of November 5, the final result of the US presidential election has yet to be released. Biden is more likely to be elected than Trump’s re-election, which will also affect the Korean government’s decision. South about it. Chosun Ilbo quoted a source from the diplomatic system as saying, “Minister Yu Myung Hee’s support has exceeded expectations. It is a great diplomatic achievement to appear at the final stage of the selection of the new WTO Director-General.”

　　South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs: has not yet decided to withdraw its candidates

As recently as November 5, according to the Yonhap news agency, the South Korean Foreign Ministry stated that it has not yet made a final decision on whether Yu Mingxi should withdraw from the WTO election as the new director general.

The Yonhap News Agency report also specifically referred to Chosun Ilbo’s exclusive report earlier that day, saying that the South Korean Foreign Ministry specifically relayed the above information to the media in response to the so-called “government has decided to withdraw Yu Myung Hee “in the report.

“We are fully evaluating the candidate’s future direction and the government’s position on this matter. So far, we have not made any decision on the direction,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry revealed to reporters.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs also affirmed that the government respects the rules and procedures of the WTO and will participate constructively in the negotiation and election of the Director General’s agenda, and will continue to negotiate with member states, including the United States. , for this purpose.

At the informal meeting of the heads of delegations of WTO members on 28 October, the Director-General selected the “three-person team” and said that after the investigation, it was found that Okonjo-Iweala received much more I support South Korean candidate Yu Myung Hee. Therefore, it was determined that he was the recommended candidate for the new CEO.

The Chosun Ilbo revealed that before the meeting, the “three-person team” conducted an opinion poll among the member states on the 19th and 27th. The results of the poll show that more than 100 out of 163 member states support the candidate. of Nigeria Okonjo-Iweala, including the European Union, Japan, Africa and Latin America.

The WTO plans to hold a general council meeting on November 9 to formally approve Oconcho Iveala as the organization’s new director general.

Furthermore, Chosun Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo mentioned that due to the US presidential elections, the final candidate scheduled for November 9 may be delayed. A source said: “If the Democratic candidate Biden is elected, the WTO member states can postpone the selection meeting until after the Biden administration takes office on January 20, 2021.”

And if the United States and other member states continue to stagnate on this issue, another possible outcome is that the two candidates share the mandate of the current CEO. Something similar happened with the selection of the Director-General in 1999, whereby the WTO temporarily extended the mandate of the Director-General from four to six years. New Zealand and Thailand were two candidates for three years.

Editor in charge: He Zhongfu