21 Facts About Yoo Myung-hee

Yoo Myung-hee is a South Korean politician who served as the Minister for Trade of South Korea from 2019 to 2021.

Yoo Myung-hee was the first woman to hold the position.

Yoo Myung-hee is noted as being the final two candidates in the 2020 World Trade Organization leadership race.

Yoo Myung-hee holds a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2003.

Yoo Myung-hee first started her career as a civil servant at the Ministry of Government Administration in 1992.

Yoo Myung-hee has reflected that at the time of the Uruguay Round negotiations, she witnessed various "disputes and conflicts", which motivated her to represent her country in trade negotiations and devote her life to representing Korea's position.

Yoo Myung-hee noticed that South Korea was the only country among the WTO member states which was not represented by any women in its delegation team, which prompted her to apply for a position at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

In 1998 after organizational restructuring at the Korean government, Yoo Myung-hee was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Yoo Myung-hee was later admitted to the New York State bar in 2003.

Yoo Myung-hee was known for her affection and passion for trade, and was sometimes likened to former US Trade Representative Carla Hills.

Yoo Myung-hee therefore believes that it is important to create rules that govern negotiations as well as establish a system that allows for greater coordination between different interests.

From 2007 to 2010, Yoo Myung-hee was dispatched to the Korean Embassy in Beijing, China as the First Secretary and Counsellor.

In 2014, Yoo Myung-hee was appointed as Spokesperson for Foreign Media at the Office of the President of Korea, where she served until 2015.

In 2015, Yoo Myung-hee was appointed as the Director-General for FTA Negotiations and East Asia FTA.

In 2019, Yoo Myung-hee was appointed as Minister for Trade becoming the first woman to assume the post and the highest ranking woman in the Ministry.

Yoo Myung-hee concluded the Korea-Indonesia CEPA that featured a strong chapter on bilateral cooperation.

However, given the election of Joe Biden to the US presidency and in the face of widespread support for her rival Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Harvard-trained development economist and former Managing Director of the World Bank, Nigerian Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yoo Myung-hee withdrew her bid on February 5,2021.

Yoo Myung-hee's withdrawal follows an announcement by the WTO which said in October 2020 that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had garnered more support than Yoo Myung-hee from the WTO's 164 member states.

In November 2022, Yoo Myung-hee was appointed on the board of directors of Samsung Electronics.

Yoo Myung-hee serves as a senior adviser for Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Yoo Myung-hee is married to Jeong Tae-ok, a former civil servant and politician who served as a National Assembly member and spokesman of the main opposition party.