South Korea, occupants of the Presidency of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) had won the franchise to host the next World Conference of Science Journalists in 2015 (WCSJ2015).
The 2015 event to take place in Seoul is the 9th edition.
Africa lost another opportunity to host the biannual world�s largest assembly of science journalists conference, despite putting up two out of the three bids to host it.
The Arab Spring robbed Egypt from staging the WCSJ2011, forcing the General Assembly to reschedule the event to Doha, Qatar.
Mr Vesa Niinikangas, the outgoing President of WFSJ told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that South Korea's bid was favoured by its potential to raise the Federation's profile in Asia, which is
home to many of the world's emerging economies.
He said the country had shown that it would work closely with neighbouring countries in Asia.
Mr Niinikangas said Kenya's bid lacked strong global perspective in its proposed conference programme.
The board also felt that the two Kenyan science networks behind the bid � Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association and Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture are too young to organise such a meeting.
However, he applauded the fact that Kenya had received the support of other African science journalists associations for the bid, which he said was good for deepening cooperation among science journalist networks.
Mr Niinikangas said the bidding team from the South African Science Journalists' Association lacked racial balance as it comprised only two non-white members.
The bid also lacked support from other African associations. He said the decision to hand WCSJ 2015 to South Korea left many African science journalists unhappy.
Diran Onifade, President of African Federation of Science Journalists, said it was unfortunate that the board thought that Africa was unable to host the event.
African countries, he said, are capable of staging the conference given the fact that the continent has hosted major international events, including the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa.
He added that Kenya is home to many international organisations such as the UN Environment Programme.
Dr Cho Sun, the incoming President of WFSJ thanked members of the General Assembly for the trust reposed in him and pledged to pursue aggressive democratic and capacity building reforms for
science journalism in the global sphere.
He promised to embark on efforts to seek financial autonomy for the Federation�s programmes in attempt to move science journalism to the next level.
Mr Jae-eok Shim, President of the Korea Science Journalists Association pledged the body�s readiness to rally human and financial support to meet its responsibilities and stage an excellent
programme in 2015.
The theme for the WCSJ2015 conference would be: �Expanding our Horizons.�
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