Korea to join WHO's Executive Board

Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo. Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

By Bahk Eun-ji

Korea will serve as a board member of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday.

Currently, the WHO's Western Pacific Executive Board member nations are Japan, Australia, China, Singapore and Tonga, but Tokyo's three-year term is set to expire next year, at which time it will be replaced by Seoul.

Korea will receive the confirmation from the organization's general assembly in May 2020 and begin its seventh term as a member of the board since the country first joined the WHO in 1949.

The WHO Executive Board is comprised of 34 countries from the six WHO world regions ― Africa, South-East Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific. The main functions of the Executive Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly, to advise it and facilitate its work generally.

During an informal meeting of the WHO West Pacific Regional Assembly in October, the regional countries decided to appoint Korea to its Executive Board. Malaysia and Mongolia had been competing for the position with Korea, the health ministry said.

“By joining the Executive Board of WHO in 2020, it is reaffirmed that the international community has approved that the country is able to play a key role in representing the Western Pacific region for establishing a global health guideline,” Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a statement.

The ministry said Executive Board membership means the country can actively deal with global health issues and policies and strengthen coordination with domestic policies.

“We will do our best to fulfill the responsibilities as an Executive Board member to achieve the WHO's goals of improving equity in health, reducing health risk, promoting healthy lifestyles and settings, and responding to the underlying determinants of health,” Park said.

The WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. The WHO's membership is made up of 194 countries that meet every year in May at the World Health Assembly (WHA), which is the decision-making body of the WHO.

The main functions of the WHA are to determine the policies of the organization, appoint a director-general, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed program budget.