South Korea has been elected as the next chair of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)'s Board of Governors, a first such appointment since the country joined the nuclear regulatory group operating under the United Nations in 1957. 

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday the 35-member IAEA board arrived at the decision by consensus at a meeting held in Vienna.

Shin Chae-hyun, South Korea's ambassador to Austria and the Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, will serve as the chair for a single-year term until September 2022.

The chair of the board presides over its meetings which generally take place five times a year, as well as those for standing committees. The chair also confers and coordinates with the IAEA Secretariat, regional groups, and relevant groups of the IAEA on key issues.

The ministry said South Korea is among the 11 countries, including Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Vietnam, that have been newly elected to the board for the 2021-22 period.