South Korea has become the 186th party to a United Nations convention against transnational organized crime, the government said Friday.
  

South Korea recently ratified the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three optional protocols. Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong delivered the related documents to Miguel de Serpa Soares, under secretary general for legal affairs and U.N. legal counsel, at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Thursday (local time), the ministry said in a press release.
  

The convention was adopted in 2000 with the aim of promoting cross-border cooperation in tackling organized crime.
  

The three protocols are intended to prevent trafficking of persons, especially women and children, the smuggling of migrants, and illegal manufacturing and trafficking of firearms.
  

South Korea signed the UNTOC and protocols in the early 2000s but the ratification was delayed due to relevant legislative work, the ministry said.
 

In meeting with Kim, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed South Korea's move and requested close cooperation between the two sides, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)