South Korea was tapped as an A Group director country of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at its 22nd plenary session held here Friday afternoon.
It is the first time for South Korea to become a director nation of the IMO A Group.
South Korea has been a C Group director country since 1991 and applied for A Group membership with the category's increase from eight to 10 representatives this year.
The U.N. body now has a combined 40 director countries, which are divided into 10 A Group, 10 B Group and 20 C Group members.
South Korea occupies the central region of Northeast Asian maritime trade and 99.7 percent of its trading products depend on maritime transportation.
The combined 25 million tonnage of its ships ranks eighth in the world, handling some five percent of worldwide maritime transportation of products.
Along with South Korea, Panama joined the A Group.
The IMO, founded in 1959, has 160 member countries. It enacts or revises various maritime transportation regulations and supervises implementation in member countries.