Sung-Hwan Cho, CEO of Hyundai Mobis, will become the first Korean to lead the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which sets universal standards for global trade and commerce.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that Hyundai Mobis CEO Sung-Hwan Cho was elected as the next ISO President (2024-2025) at the 44th International Organization for Standardization (ISO) General Assembly held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 to 23.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an organization that develops international standards (holding 24,335 types of standards) in general industrial fields such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and nuclear power. It was established in 1947 and currently has 167 member countries.

Since joining ISO in 1963, Korea has served on the board of directors for over 20 years (seven times) and achieved international standardization results (ranked 8th in national activity rankings), making it the first country to become ISO president. With this appointment as ISO president, Korea has solidified its position as a standards leader.

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CEO Cho Seong-hwan was elected ISO Chairman after a fierce competition with a Chinese candidate, in recognition of his deep understanding of international standardization and his leadership abilities demonstrated by outstanding management performance.

CEO Cho Sung-hwan will serve as a candidate-elect alongside current ISO President Ulrika Franke (Sweden) (until 2023) in 2023, and will take office as ISO President in 2024.

Our country has strategically carried out negotiations to gain support for the ISO chairman by first securing support from friendly countries for standardization cooperation among the 123 ISO regular member countries (excluding Korea and China) and then building close cooperative relationships with the public and private sectors, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hyundai Mobis, KOTRA, and the Korea Standards Association.

As Korea assumes the position of ISO Chairman, it is expected that Korea will not only contribute to the international community and elevate Korea's status as a Korean Chairman representing ISO internationally, but also increase Korea's contribution to international standardization by expanding the international standardization activities of our companies.

In addition to being elected as the ISO President, Korea was re-elected as a member of the Technical Management Board (TMB), which manages ISO's technical committees.

The TMB is an important policy committee that can contribute to the expansion of international standardization of Korean technology in particular, as it establishes technical committees (TCs) within ISO and decides on chairs, secretaries, etc.

Our country has been re-elected as a member of the TMB board this time, making it the first country to do so in 2009.Well, since being elected, we have been able to continue to secure a foundation for supporting the international standardization of our technology.

The TMB director position will be held by Moon Young-jun, director of the Korea Transport Institute, and will serve for three years from 2023 to 2025.

With this, our country can actively support the international standardization of our technology by maintaining executive positions in key ISO policy committees that discuss international standardization policies and strategies, including the ISO Chairman, Council, and TMB.

Additionally, during this general meeting, we strengthened cooperation on standards between countries by holding bilateral meetings with European countries such as the UK and Italy, and achieved the renewal of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.

First, through bilateral meetings with the UK, Italy, Denmark, Austria, and others, we discussed international standardization strategies and the development of bilateral cooperation standardization tasks, thereby creating an opportunity to strengthen standards cooperation with major European standardization countries.

We renewed the Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Cooperation with the United Arab Emirates and agreed to strengthen mutual cooperation in the fields of standards and metrology between the two countries.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said, “I congratulate CEO Cho Sung-hwan on becoming a global leader in overseeing international standards,” and added, “With his appointment as ISO chairman as an opportunity, we will further increase our country’s contribution and participation in the international community so that we can contribute to global development through standards.”