1. Director of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Young-tae has been elected as the new Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum (ITF) at a meeting of transport ministers of the member countries of the ITF at the OECD, held in Leipzig, Germany, on June 1.

2. The ITF, a representative ministerial-level forum which deals with transport policies within the OECD system, is an international organization that leads various global transport issues, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, self-driving technology, and the sharing economy, by holding a meeting of transport ministers in Germany in May every year.

o The ITF has 44 European and 13 non-European members, including the ROK, the US, Japan and China. Since acquiring full membership in 2007, the ROK has been expanding its influence, including by being chosen as president for the 2018-2019 term.

3. Director Kim Young-tae has been considered the most suitable person for the position of ITF Secretary-General during the election process due to his abundant experiences in the area of transport policy and foreign language proficiency. The election of a Korean as the ITF Secretary-General is expected to help increase the influence of the ROK’s transport policies on the global stage, as well as help the domestic transport industry make inroads into overseas markets.

4. The election was made possible by close cooperation among the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Permanent Delegation of the ROK to the OECD, and diplomatic missions of the ROK in the ITF member countries. The ROK government will continue to spare no effort to help more Koreans work for international organizations.

o The grade of the post of the ITF Secretary-General is the highest (A7) among grades that range from A1 to A7 at the OECD. The post of the ITF Secretary-General is the highest one that a Korean has been named to at the OECD.


* unofficial translation