South Korean researchers have succeeded in deciphering the first-ever genome sequence map of a Korean.

A team of scientists at the state-run Korean Bioinformation Center and Gachon University of Medicine and Science announced the breakthrough on Thursday. They deciphered the entire personal genome of Kim Seong-jin, a cancer research specialist at the university, after seven months of analysis.

South Korea is the third country in the world to complete this feat, with Kim becoming the fourth identified person to have his genetic sequence mapped and published.

The analysis results showed that Kim's classification fell somewhere between Japanese and Chinese, confirming previous research results that Korean, Japanese and Chinese are much alike.

The researchers also compared Kim’s DNA with that of other patients with diabetes and asthma in an attempt to discover a correlation between specific genetic sequences of certain diseases.