1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) announce that KMA Administrator Ko Yun-hwa was elected to the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the 17th session of the World Meteorological Congress on June 4.

2. The WMO’s Executive Council, the key executive body which oversees and controls the organization’s budgets and projects, consists of members from 37 countries out of 191 member states. Heads of meteorological authorities of the 37 countries serve on the Executive Council according to the principle of geographical distribution of seats.

o After the ROK joined the WMO in 1956, the head of its meteorological authorities was elected to the Executive Council in 2007 for the first time and the seat has been maintained since then.

o Elected members from the Asian region are those from six countries – Republic of Korea, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, India, and Qatar (president). They will serve as regional representatives for the next four years.

3. The election of the ROK member to the Executive Council is seen as the result of the ROK’s elevated status and credibility in the international community after it has strengthened trust-based diplomacy as one of its policy tasks and transferred meteorological technologies to developing countries.

4. Administrator Ko Yun-hwa stated that he will strengthen the ROK’s leadership on the global stage by maintaining the seat on the WMO’s Executive Council, expand projects to support developing countries in the meteorological and climate sector, and contribute to development and progress in the international meteorological society by actively participating in the meteorological policy-making process.


*unofficial translation