South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee has made it onto the shortlist of two finalists in a race to become the new chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a news report said Thursday.

The South Korean candidate will now compete with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria for the top seat, Reuters reported, citing three unidentified sources.

The WTO earlier said the candidates for the final round of the selection process will be announced later Thursday (Geneva time).

Member states will reach a consensus on the winner in the third round of the process.

With the two finalists both being women, it means the Geneva-based trade body will likely have the first female chief in its 25-year history.

During the second round, each member state recommended up to two preferences. Yoo competed with candidates from Saudi Arabia and Britain in the second round of the elimination process.

Three candidates from Mexico, Egypt and Moldova were eliminated from the list in the first round.

Once members reach a consensus on the final candidate, the WTO will then approve the final candidate during a general council meeting.

The process is widely expected to be completed in early November.

Yoo is the third South Korean to run for the top post of the Geneva-based trade body. Two South Koreans made unsuccessful bids in 1994 and 2012.

During her campaign, Yoo vowed to focus on rebuilding trust in the multilateral trade system by making it more "relevant, resilient and responsive" if she is picked as the new WTO leader.

Since July, she has visited various countries, including Switzerland, the United States, France and Sweden, to drum up their support.

Yoo was appointed as South Korea's trade minister in February last year, becoming the country's first woman in the position in the 70-year history of the trade ministry.

The minister emphasized that the WTO needs to normalize its role in handling negotiations and settling disputes under a multilateral regime.

Her candidacy comes amid growing trade protectionism around the globe, which has been escalating over the past few years, sparked by the tension between Washington and Beijing.

Yoo has been insisting that normalizing the dispute-settlement role of the WTO will pave the way for the world's top two economies to seek ways to improve their ties.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also thrown cold water on business activities, straining major economies worldwide and making it crucial for a new WTO director general to make efforts in setting a post-pandemic trade paradigm.

South Korea's bid for the top WTO position also comes amid its growing trade row with the neighboring Japan.

Seoul and Tokyo have been at loggerheads since last year, after Japan abruptly imposed export restrictions of key industrial items against South Korea, citing security issues.

South Korea reopened its complaint at the WTO recently, as Japan has remained unresponsive to Seoul's repeated requests to lift the regulations.

In July, the WTO launched a panel to look into the discord.

Japan's export curbs are viewed as retaliation against a South Korean court's ruling that ordered Japanese companies to provide compensation for their wartime slavery of Korean workers.

Apparently in response to the dispute, Japan reportedly has been against Yoo's bid to run for the top seat at the WTO. (Yonhap)