SEOUL – South Korea’s top trade official is dropping her bid to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organization, making it likely the job will go to former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
She would become the first woman to lead the organization. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a news release Friday that its minister for trade, Yoo Myung-hee, will soon tell the WTO she is withdrawing her candidacy.
The WTO, which makes world trade rules, announced in October that Yoo and Okonjo-Iweala were the two finalists to become its next director-general, ensuring a woman will fill the top job for the first time.