Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was officially selected as the host city of the Group of 20 (G20) summit to be held in November next year, the South Korean government announced on Monday.

The final decision was made by a preparatory committee launched by the government on Monday, which will be in charge of preparing for the G20 summit.

Several South Korean cities, such as Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Jeju, have competed as candidate cities to host the summit, but after taking transportation and accommodation into account, Seoul was finally selected as the host city, Sakong Il, a former special adviser for economic affairs to the President Lee Myung-bak and the newly-appointed chief of the preparatory committee, told a press briefing.

"We considered a number of aspects, but the most important of them was the accommodation capacity of the cities," Sakong said.

The summit will attract about 35 heads of state, government or international organizations, as well as more than 10,000 other participants, he added.

Meanwhile, Presidential Policy Chief Yoon Jin-sik was appointed as the committee's vice chair and Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Rhee Chang-yong was named the head of planning section.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2009)