Hotel Shilla in Seoul held a ceremony Thursday to commemorate its designation as a five-star hotel.
 
The hotel passed a field test and an anonymous evaluation to become South Korea's first five-star hotel in April, following the adoption of a new grading system by the nation's tourism authorities.
 
The previous grading system used flowers rather than the international convention of stars.
 
Among the 760 hotels around the nation which will undergo an evaluation, 50 have applied for the new star ratings.