A South Korean professor has been elected a member of a U.N. committee promoting the rights of the handicapped.

Professor Kim Hyung-shik of Korea University’s Department of International Studies in Seoul is the first South Korean to earn membership with the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The 18-member committee evaluates reports by the 90 member countries of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and presents recommendations and proposals to ensure the appropriate implementation of the convention.

Kim, an expert on the rights of the disabled, has served as the head of the Korean office of “Rehabilitation International” and has represented South Korean nongovernmental organizations in conferences on the convention.

South Korea joined the convention in December 2008.