Park meets with IMO chief

President Park Geun-hye on Friday met with Lim Ki-tack, the South Korean chief of a UN maritime body, to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation on an array of issues, including North Korea's provocations that destabilize maritime security.

During her meeting with Lim, the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, Park was expected to highlight that Pyongyang's unannounced launch of missiles and its disruptions of Global Positioning System signals would seriously undermine the safety of ships, her aides said.

In this regard, she would stress the need for the IMO to constantly send strong messages against the communist state's missile provocations, they said.

After their talks, South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the IMO signed a memorandum of understanding on a special trust fund to push for Lim's project, called "Voyage Together."

Lim unveiled the project during his election campaign last year. It aims to ensure safe and secure maritime navigation, curtail the shipping industry's carbon emissions and enhance efficiency in IMO operations.

Lim, a former head of South Korea's local port operator, was elected the 9th IMO secretary-general in June last year. He replaced his predecessor Koji Sekimizu and was inaugurated on Jan. 1.

The IMO is the leading global authority on safety, security and environmental issues in the international shipping industry. South Korea joined the organization in 1962. (Yonhap)