By Kim Jae-heun

Hyundai Mobis CEO Cho Sung-hwan is vying to become the head of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) said on Monday.

Cho Sung-hwan

The election will be held during the ISO General Assembly in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, in September, and a candidate who wins the largest number of votes from 124 full-fledged members will be tapped as the new president.

Cho is the first Korean to run for the non-profit organization's presidency. He will compete against the Chinese Academy of Machinery Science and Technology Group Chairman Decheng Wang.

The winner will officially take office in 2024 after serving as president-elect with current chief Ulrika Francke for a year.

ISO is the world's largest standard organization with more than 24,000 international standards under coverage.

The president-elect gets to choose the length of his term ― between two and three years ― and Cho applied to be president for two years.

The director of KATS, Lee Sang-hoon, served as an ISO president between 2020 and 2022 and 41 Koreans are serving as the heads and secretaries of the organization's affiliated technical committees at present.

According to the list of most active members released by ISO, Korea ranks eighth.

In Asia, Japan and India produced the most ISO presidents with two, followed by China and Singapore with one.

"Cho proved his capability as a CEO of Hyundai Mobis, a global auto parts company, and has a deep understanding of international standardization. He is also worked as the head of Hyundai Motor's U.S. technology research institute where he gained various international experience and is fluent in English," a KATS official said.