Yoo Myung-hee served as the first female Trade Minister of Korea from February 2019 to August 2021. Since she started her career in public service in 1992, she has dedicated most of her 30-year career to trade initiatives, designing and implementing Korea’s trade policy, and negotiating trade agreements. During her term as Trade Minister, she strengthened Korea’s FTA network, in particular, with ASEAN, concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, Korea-Indonesia FTA, and Korea-Cambodia FTA, and launching Korea-Philippines FTA negotiations. She also developed Korea’s policy on digital trade and launched the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership negotiations in 2020. On multilateral trade, she led and contributed to various international initiatives to ensure supply chain connectivity and maintain open trade amid COVID-19, and revitalize and reform the multilateral trading system. Before her appointment as Trade Minister, she was Deputy Minister for Trade Negotiations (since January 2018) and took responsibility as Korea’s lead negotiator for the Korea-U.S. FTA amendment negotiations. She has also served as counsellor of the Korean Embassy in China and spokesperson for foreign media in the Office of the President. She advises and assists the government in developing and implementing international economic and trade policies, as Ambassador for Economy and Trade.