National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) under the Ministry of Environment announced that it has published the Korean version of the "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)" for the first time in Korea on October 31. 

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted international rule of the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. With the publication, Korea became the third country in Asia to officially translate the full text.

In the 18th century, a Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus invented the modern system of binomial nomenclature for scientific naming. With an exponential increase in the number of recorded species during the 19th century, botanists and zoologist formed the commissions for nomenclature respectively and set the international codes of botanical and zoological nomenclature. 

Since the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature was first declared by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1961, the 4th edition of the English and French texts were published on January 1, 2000.

As of now, the code has been translated into seven languages. In Asia, Japan published the translation version in 2000 and China in 2009.

In Korea, the summary of the 2nd edition of 1964 was translated and printed in the Korean Zoological Academic Journal in 1971 and 1972. It is the first time that the full text is translated into Korean.

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature contains the definition of zoological nomenclature, conditions for appropriate scientific names, glossary, and so forth.

The original text of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is written in English, which is full of scientific terms with Latin origin words, so that Korean taxonomists had difficulties in having a correct understanding of the code and using it. With the publication of the Korean version, it is expected that Korean taxonomists who are not familiar with Lain will better understand and use the principles of zoological nomenclature.

The Korean version of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature can be downloaded at the NIBR's biodiversity library website (http://library.nibr.go.kr), and it will be uploaded at the website of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (http://iczn.org/other_languages).

President Baek Woonsuk of NIBR commented that "Claims over biological sovereign rights start from identifying organisms living in the country and giving names to them." "I hope the publication of the Korean version of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature would serve as a cornerstone to nurture future taxonomists and biologists with an aim to protect Korea's biological sovereign rights," he added.