<Anchor> In the
final election of the Secretary General of the World Trade Organization, there are reports that Japan has decided not to support the head of the Trade Bargaining Headquarters Yu Myung-hee.
However, there are criticisms in Japan that the Japanese government has made a mistake because this election is not just a matter of Korea-Japan relations, but also concerns the United States and China.
This is Tokyo's correspondent Yoo Seong-jae.
<Reporter> The
WTO Secretary General's election was narrowed down to the final competition between Korea's Director General
Myung-hee Myung-hee
and former Foreign Minister Okonjoyweala of Nigeria.
Kyodo News Agency said the Japanese government has decided to support the Nigerian candidate and that it is likely to pass on this position to the WTO sooner or later.
Japan seems to have already decided to support Nigerian candidates from the beginning of the election.
This appears to be due to concerns that the election of candidate Myung-hee Myeong-hee may be disadvantageous when Korea has filed a lawsuit against Japan's semiconductor exports to the WTO.
China, with great influence in Africa, is supporting the Nigerian candidate.
On the other hand, the US, which has a trade conflict with China, is sure to support Yoo.
Japan, which is close to the United States, has made a different choice than the United States, but the Japanese government has not officially identified a candidate for support.
[Kato/Japan Secretary of State: Other countries have not disclosed the votes for international organization elections for diplomatic reasons.]
However, a popular current affairs weekly magazine strongly criticized the Japanese government for failing to predict the propaganda of Candidate Yu Myung-hee by misreading the elections.
According to the results of the elections, the Japanese government said that Japan could become a ``cold meal'' in the field of international trade, and that the Japanese government is fully affirmed.
(Video coverage: Moon Hyun-jin, video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)