Korea's Jeong Kyung-hwa named OECD chemicals committee vice chair

Jeong Kyung-hwa, the environment ministry's director of chemicals policy, will serve a three-year term as a vice chair of the OECD's Chemicals and Biotechnology Committee starting Oct. 29, the ministry said Wednesday.

The committee is one of 33 sectoral expert bodies at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, working on chemical safety standards and the coordination of members' chemicals policy. It sets international standards including test guidelines for chemical safety, and supports member and non-member states in building and running their chemicals management systems. It also oversees the Mutual Acceptance of Data agreement, under which members accept each other's chemical safety data, avoiding repeat testing country by country. The OECD estimated the arrangement produced annual savings of 410 million euros, or about 617 billion won ($460 million), as of 2024.

Jeong previously headed the ministry's international cooperation and chemical safety divisions and served as an innovation administration officer, and worked as a policy analyst at the OECD secretariat. The ministry said it plans to use the committee post to take an active part in the work of the OECD and other international bodies on chemical safety management and to press for Korea's position to be reflected in international discussions.