SEOUL, Aug 15 - A South Korean man who returned from a trip overseas has died from swine flu, becoming the country's first reported death from the virus, the health ministry here said Saturday.

"A man in his 50s died from the new flu after returning from Thailand," Deputy Minister Lee Jong-Koo of the ministry told journalists.

The man in the southeastern province of South Gyeongsang toured Thailand from August 1 to 5 with his colleagues, the ministry said.

He began to show symptoms on August 8 and test results on Friday showed he was infected with the virus. He had been under intensive care at a hospital since August 10, it said.

He died on Saturday morning from pneumonia and other complications caused by the A(H1N1) virus, it said.

"The new flu was the direct cause of his death," Lee said.

South Korea has reported more than 2,000 cases of swine flu since it recorded its first case on May 2 involving a middle-aged woman who travelled Mexico.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said some 1,462 people had died from swine flu globally, and that infections were starting to decline in the southern hemisphere but were picking up in several Asian countries.