A Seoul National University Professor has been elected to a four-year-term as a full member of a U.N. human rights panel.

Professor Jung Chin-sung is the first South Korean to gain a regular membership on the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

At the 60th Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva Wednesday, Jung received 44 votes out of a total 53, beating out candidates from Japan and Syria.

Professor Jung previously worked as an alternate member of the U.N. panel from 2000 to 2004. She is known for her efforts to bring attention to the plight of South Korea's comfort women, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II.