In the Trenches: Policymaker and Negotiator

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Yoo Myung-hee was born in 1967, the year South Korea acceded to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Began her career in the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy in 1995, when GATT was succeeded by the WTO.
Korea’s transformation from poverty and war to global trade leader is attributed by Yoo to open trade.
Yoo served as Korea’s first female trade minister from 2019 to 2021 and was a final-round candidate for WTO director-general before yielding to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Nearly three decades in government included negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and bilateral trade pacts with China and the United States.
Educational background: Vanderbilt University Law School and Seoul National University; visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Studies.

Emphasis on sufficient preparation and domestic consultation:
- Know the substance through thorough analysis.
- Engage in extensive consultations with domestic stakeholders and relevant agencies to explore alternatives, identify landing zones, and fine-tune redlines.
- These efforts increase likelihood of smooth ratification and implementation, though they require significant time and effort.
Practical example with Korea-US renegotiations:
- A public hearing—required to launch FTA negotiations in Korea—was suspended due to a significant protest by agricultural stakeholders.
- Yoo met multiple times with protesters, explained issues, and secured support to resume the public hearing.
- The process helped conclude negotiations and secure ratification from the National Assembly within a year.

Served as counselor in Beijing from 2007 to 2010.
Observed China’s earlier active engagement and market opening, including concluding an FTA with New Zealand in 2008—China’s first comprehensive FTA and first with an advanced country.
Contributed to the Korea-China FTA Joint Study and worked to expand trade and investment with China.
Noted a subsequent shift in China’s policy and the changing economic trade landscape.

The pandemic accelerated a shift toward a more security-oriented approach in trade governance, emphasizing resilience, stability, and reliability in supply chains.
Despite COVID-19 disruptions, Korea signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership among 15 members.
- The agreement was substantially concluded before the pandemic but signed after one-year negotiations on technical issues to close gaps; the signing was conducted virtually.
Specific supply-chain impact example:
- Hyundai could not import wiring harnesses from China during early COVID-19 disruptions.
- 95 percent of those wiring harnesses came from China; Hyundai suspended production in Ulsan because of shortages.
- Later, Hyundai sourced harnesses from Cambodia and Korea started FTA negotiations with Cambodia that year.

Observed trend: increasing politicization of economic and trade issues and conflation of trade policy with national security.
Manifestations include supply chain reconfiguration; onshoring, reshoring, or friend-shoring; resurgence of industrial policy and massive subsidies; export controls; and investment screening.
Potential consequences noted (citing the IMF’s World Economic Outlook as referenced by Yoo):
- Increased cost of doing business.
- Limited access to global markets.
- Added uncertainty to trade.
- Higher risk of protectionism and disputes.
Korea’s response:
- Efforts to enhance resilience, including supporting industrial and technological competitiveness in critical sectors and diversification.
- Active pursuit of strengthened international cooperation through bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral arrangements.
Yoo’s stance: improving supply chain resilience does not have to mean turning away from economic openness; balance between efficiency, resilience, and security is essential.
Uncertainty remains about the extent of future fragmentation; challenges ahead described as significant.

Prioritize thorough substantive analysis and extensive domestic consultation to identify landing zones and secure ratification.
Engage directly with protesting or skeptical domestic stakeholders to build understanding and support.
Foster international cooperation as a means to enhance supply chain resilience without abandoning openness.
Prepare for a security-oriented trade environment and design policies that balance efficiency, resilience, and security.

Interview with Yoo Myung-hee, F&D Magazine, June 2023.

Policymaker and Negotiator: Trenches profile of Yoo Myung-hee
- Policymaker and Negotiator: Trenches profile of Yoo Myung-hee (Markdown version)
- Policymaker and Negotiator: Trenches profile of Yoo Myung-hee (PDF)