Seoul, Nov 15 (IANS): South Korea and France have held consultations to help prepare Seoul for its role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

The Tuesday meeting came as South Korea is set to begin a two-year term as a non-permanent UNSC member in 2024-25. It won the seat after garnering 180 votes from 192 member states at the UN General Assembly in New York in June.

At the meeting, Kang Joo-yeon, Director-General for international organisations at the Ministry, and her French counterpart, Beatrice Le Fraper du Hellen, exchanged their views on a wide range of issues, including peacekeeping operations and cybersecurity, Yonhap news agency reported.

The two sides also discussed North Korea, the recent Israel-Hamas conflict and other pending security issues in the region, the Ministry said.

South Korea had two separate similar meetings with the US and the UK in recent weeks.

This marks the third time for South Korea to serve as one of the 10 non-permanent UNSC members. It previously served in the seat during the 1996-97 term.