Kitack Lim
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Kitack Lim (
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
: 임기택; born 22 January 1956) is the current Secretary General of the
International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...
.


Early life

Lim was born in
Masan Masan is an administrative region of Changwon, a city in the South Gyeongsang Province. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae. Masan was redistricted as two district ...
,
Gyeongsangnam-do South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...
, a major port city in
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. He completed a degree in nautical science at the
Korea Maritime and Ocean University Korea Maritime & Ocean University is South Korea's most prestigious national university, national university for maritime study, transportation science and engineering. It is located in Yeongdo-gu in Busan. The university is also known for having ...
(KMOU), Busan, graduating in 1977. He then joined the
Republic of Korea Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ko, 대한민국 해군), also known as the ROK Navy or South Korean Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The ROK Navy in ...
and worked on ships as a deck officer, later working for Sanko Shipping Co. In 1985, he joined the Korea Maritime and Port Administration, while undertaking further studies at the Graduate School of Administration of
Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the "SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in the ...
, eventually obtaining a Master's degree in 1990. He then attended the
World Maritime University The World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden, is a postgraduate maritime university founded within the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. Established by an IMO Assem ...
(WMU), graduating with a master's degree in maritime administration with a major in navigation. Between 1995 and 1998, he returned to KMOU for study completing a doctoral programme for international law.


Career

Lim began attending IMO meetings as part of the South Korean delegation in 1986, participating in
maritime safety Maritime safety as part of and overlapping with water safety is concerned with the protection of life (search and rescue) and property through regulation, management and technology development of all forms of waterborne transportation. The execut ...
and environmental protection issues. From 1992 onwards, he was engaged in promoting maritime safety through the effective implementation of IMO conventions in South Korea, as well as in other IMO member states in the Asian region. In 2004, he was elected Chairman of the Tokyo Memorandum on Port State Control. Between 2006 and August 2009, Lim served as Maritime Attaché and minister-counsellor at the
Embassy of South Korea, London The Embassy of South Korea in London, England, is the diplomatic mission of South Korea in the United Kingdom. South Korea also maintains a Cultural Centre at 1-3 Strand. The official ambassador’s residence is an elegantly understated villa (d ...
, leading all IMO work for South Korea, including serving as Deputy Permanent Representative. Lim was then appointed as Director General for Maritime Safety Policy Bureau at the Headquarters of the
Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is a cabinet-level division of the government of South Korea. Its headquarters is in the in Sejong City. The ministry was originally the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. Th ...
(MLTM) in South Korea. This role included leading the South Korean delegation to the IMO Assembly in 2009. In March 2011, Lim was appointed Commissioner of the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST). In July 2012, he assumed the position of President of
Busan Port Authority The Busan Port Authority is the governing body of the South Korean port of Busan. They are responsible for the maritime and seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load an ...
. He served as President of the Port Authority until the end of July 2015.


Secretary-General

In December 2015, Lim was unanimously endorsed in his confirmation to become Secretary-General of the IMO. Replacing
Koji Sekimizu Koji Sekimizu (born 3 December 1952) is a Japanese official who was Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization between 2012 and 2015, as well as Chancellor of the World Maritime University. Education Sekimizu attended school in Y ...
of Japan, his first four year term commenced on 1 January 2016. One of his first external events as Secretary-General in 2016 was to deliver the keynote speech at an
e-Navigation e-Navigation is a strategy developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN specialized agency, to bring about increased safety of navigation in commercial shipping through better organization of data on ships and on shore, and be ...
conference onboard the MS Pearl Seaways in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
. In June 2017, Lim announced the 'Day of the Seafarer' celebrations, with a recorded video message. In September 2017, he made his first visit to
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
as Secretary-General holding discussions at the
Russian Ministry of Transport The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство транспорта Российской Федерации) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for transportation. The Ministry of Transpo ...
. In May 2018, he gave an interview on the 70th anniversary of the interview and highlighted the three top challenges of the future for the IMO as being climate change, digitization and seafarer issues. In 2018, Lim was re-elected to serve another four year term as Secretary-General from January 2020, concurrent after his first term. In 2020, Lim highlighted the need to protect seafarers during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. This included arguing for the need for further recognition and support for seafarers from governments. In February 2021, he asserted that
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
in the
Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...
presented a “serious and immediate threat” to crews and vessels operating in West African waters. In October and November 2021, he attended the
2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...
. This included giving the closing speech of the related
International Chamber of Shipping The International Chamber of Shipping is one of the world's principal shipping organisations, representing around 80% of the world's merchant tonnage through membership by national shipowners' associations. It is concerned with maritime regulatory, ...
'Shaping the Future of Shipping' conference in which he stated that the need for the UN to take urgent action. In July 2022, Lim visited the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
to see ships and seafarers in the IMO humanitarian corridor, related to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. In August 2022, Lim visited the ports of
Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
and Constanta as part of IMO efforts relating to the Black Sea Grain Initiative. In September 2022, following her death, he paid tribute to
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
, who had opened the Headquarters of the IMO in 1983. In November 2022, he paid tribute to the former Secretary-General William A. O'Neil at the IMO, along with the release of a video tribute.


Personal life

In a May 2021 interview, Lim stated he enjoys playing
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
to relax, as well walking and watching films. Lim has said that some of his mentors have included Joseph Angelo (an American colleague and IMO delegate), William A. O’Neil and Efthimios Mitropoulos. Lim has stated that his favourite song is
Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved b ...
by Tom Jones and that his favourite film is The Father. His favourite book is 'Dynamic Governance' by BS Neo and G Chen.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Kitack Living people International Maritime Organization people Male sailors South Korean sailors South Korean officials of the United Nations Korea Maritime and Ocean University alumni Yonsei University alumni 1956 births 21st-century South Korean politicians