Sixth Call This Week Alone "Support Yoo Myung-hee at WTO" President Moon's All-Out Effort

Phone Calls with Danish and Indian Prime Ministers on the 21st
Two More Calls Scheduled on the 22nd

President Moon Jae-in is speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Blue House on the afternoon of the 21st.

President Moon Jae-in held consecutive phone calls on the 21st with the leaders of Denmark and India, requesting their support for Yoo Myung-hee, the head of the Trade Negotiations Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, who advanced to the final round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General election.

At 3 p.m. that day, President Moon spoke with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and at 4:30 p.m., with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stated, "The next WTO Director-General should be a candidate who possesses qualifications, sincerity toward multilateralism, and political influence rather than nationality," and introduced Yoo Myung-hee as "a candidate who has expertise in trade, a network built as a current trade minister, and political leadership." He further emphasized that Yoo is "the best candidate to mediate the sharp interests between developed and developing countries and to successfully carry out WTO reform."

In response, the two prime ministers congratulated Yoo Myung-hee on advancing to the final round and wished her success, recognizing her outstanding capabilities, vision for WTO reform, and extensive experience in the trade sector, according to a written briefing by Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok on the same day.

Additionally, during the call with Prime Minister Frederiksen, President Moon requested "Denmark's interest and cooperation as the host of the first P4G summit and a model country in the environmental sector for the second P4G summit to be held in Korea next year." Prime Minister Frederiksen responded, "Denmark will take a keen interest and actively support the successful hosting of the P4G summit next year."

President Moon and Prime Minister Modi agreed that Korea and India, as special strategic partners, should further strengthen their cooperative partnership not only in COVID-19 response but also in the post-COVID era.

In particular, Prime Minister Modi praised Korea by saying, "Even though all countries are busy responding to COVID-19, Korea is successfully managing the pandemic," and sent congratulatory messages to President Moon and the Korean people.

India is a key member of the WTO Asia Developing Countries Group (which includes Mongolia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and 31 countries) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) (which includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, and 8 countries). Spokesperson Kang expressed expectations that support for candidate Yoo Myung-hee will expand among Asian developing countries and South Asian nations.

Meanwhile, President Moon held phone calls with six leaders over three days this week alone and plans two more calls on the 22nd. He has ordered a government-wide all-out effort for the WTO Director-General election and is personally supporting the campaign through summit diplomacy.

Earlier, on the 20th, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also called the foreign ministers of Denmark, Poland, and Austria to request support for Yoo Myung-hee.