IMO Assembly approved renewal of Kitack Lim’s appointment as secretary-general of UN body
The assembly at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) yesterday approved the renewal of Kitack Lim’s appointment as secretary-general of the United Nations body for a second term of four years through to the end of 2023, says Splash247.
Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is elected for four years. Prior to Mr. Kitak Lim this position was held by Mr Koji Sekimizu.
Mr. Lim was born in Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do, in the Republic of Korea. He majored in nautical science at the Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KMOU), Busan, graduating in 1977. He worked on ships as a Korean naval officer and for an international shipping company. He joined the Korea Maritime and Port Administration in 1985, while continuing with further studies at the Graduate School of Administration, Yonsei University, obtaining a Master’s Degree in 1990. He then studied maritime administration at the World Maritime University (WMU), graduating with a master’s degree. From 1995 he attended a doctoral programme for international law at KMOU, completing course work in 1998.
Mr. Lim began attending IMO meetings as part of the Republic of Korea’s delegation in 1986 and he engaged in activities to promote maritime safety through effective implementation of IMO conventions in his country and other IMO Member States in the Asian region. He was elected Chair of IMO's Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI - now III) in 2001 and of the Tokyo Memorandum on Port State Control in 2004.
In 2006, Mr. Lim was appointed Director General of the Maritime Safety Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) and then as a Senior Maritime Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in London and led all IMO work for the Republic of Korea, serving as an Alternate Permanent Representative to IMO up to August 2009. Following that, he was re-appointed Director General for Maritime Safety Bureau (MLTM).
In March 2011, Mr. Lim was appointed Commissioner of the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST). In July 2012, he assumed the position of President of Busan Port Authority, until January 2016 when he took up his appointment as Secretary-General of IMO.
IMO Council is the executive organ of IMO and is responsible, under the Assembly, for supervising the work of the Organization. The Council is made up of 40 Member States, elected by the Assembly for two-year terms and comprising three categories: 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services; States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade; 20 States which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization(IMCO) until 1982, was established in Geneva in 1948 and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959.
Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The IMO's primary purpose is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping and its remit today includes safety, environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation, maritime security and the efficiency of shipping. IMO is governed by an Assembly of members and is financially administered by a Council of members elected from the Assembly.
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