A South Korean professor has been elected as a member of the International Civil Service Commission, becoming the first South Korean to join the key United Nations body. 

The foreign ministry said Saturday that Kim Pan-suk, a global public administration professor at Yonsei University, will serve on the independent expert body from 2021-2024.

The commission's mandate is to regulate and coordinate the conditions of service of staff in the United Nations common system, while promoting and maintaining high standards in the international civil service.

The commission is composed of 15 members who serve in a personal capacity. Among them, only the chairman and the vice chairman are full-time members and are based in New York.