The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved the renewal of Kitack Lim’s appointment as Secretary-General of IMO.
He has been reelected for a second four-year period beginning January 1, 2020.
Kitack Lim is the eighth elected Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) maritime agency.
In June 2015, he was first elected Secretary-General for a four-year period that began in January 2016. Before that, he served as President of the Busan Port Authority.
Throughout his tenure, Lim helped steer the international maritime industry to commit to ambitious environmental initiatives including the 2020 sulphur cap, the 2050 GHG goal, the Ballast Water Management Convention , and the Polar Code , among others.
Born in the Republic of Korea, Lim majored nautical science at the Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KMOU) in 1977. In addition, he obtained a Master’s Degree at the Graduate School of Administration, Yonsei University, in 1990.
Lim then studied maritime administration at the World Maritime University (WMU), graduating with a master’s degree. From 1995 he attended a doctoral program for international law at KMOU, completing course work in 1998.