Korea will strengthen cooperation on science and technology with the U.K. and Ukraine.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the U.K.'s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have pledged to continue working on the Korea-U.K. Focal Point Project, aimed at expanding exchanges among researchers in such fields as 5G, the Internet of Things and energy.

The agreement was made at the Korea-U.K. Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation, held in London on March 23. At the meeting, it was also decided that the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and the Royal Society of London would host an international conference in Korea in November.



Elsewhere in Europe, the ministry also held the fifth Korea-Ukraine Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science. The two sides talked about ways to further increase joint research and enhance cooperation on aerospace between the two countries.

The two sides discussed ways to increase joint efforts designed to boost cooperation between the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the State Space Agency of Ukraine, and to focus on launch vehicle systems developed in Korea.

Two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were signed, as well. Yonsei University and the Usikov Institute for Radiophysics and Electronics signed an agreement to jointly establish an electric wave detection center. The National Institute for Lifelong Education, too, penned an MOU with two local universities, including the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, to help them run the Korea Massive Open On-line Course, or K-MOOC, as part of their curricula.

“It’s significant that our nation works with the U.K., one of the world’s powerhouses in terms of the research revolution, on core technologies that will lead to the fourth industrial revolution,” said Director General Choi Won-ho of the International Relations Department in the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. He said, “It’s also meaningful to resume our cooperation with Ukraine on science and technology involving materials and space, which had been cut since 2012.”

By Kang Gahui, Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photos: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
kgh89@korea.kr