Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha asked her Peruvian counterpart to support South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee's bid for the top post of the World Trade Organization (WTO) during phone talks Tuesday, the foreign ministry said.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Mario Lopez Chavarri took note of Yoo's professionalism and leadership as Seoul's sitting trade minister, pledging to closely cooperate with South Korea on the issue, the ministry said in a press release.

During the talks, Kang and Lopez also discussed joint efforts to battle the new coronavirus and Peru's key social infrastructure projects, such as the construction of a highway in which South Korean firms hope to participate.

"Since the two countries established a strategic partnership in 2012 and the South Korea-Peru free trade agreement took effect in 2011, they have steadfastly developed their friendly, cooperative relations," Kang was quoted as saying during the talks.

Kang has recently held a series of phone talks with her foreign counterparts, including one with her Kyrgyzstan counterpart Monday, to drum up international support for Yoo's campaign for the WTO director generalship. (Yonhap)