- Follow-up measures to the Korea-U.S. Summit to be fully implemented



The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lim Hyesook; "MSIT") began taking actions for ROK-U.S. cooperation in the bio-technology to implement the Leaders' Joint Statement* of the Korea-U.S. Summit held on May 22.
* Excerpt from the Joint Statement: "President Biden and President Moon commit to work together to develop a future-oriented partnership by leading innovation [...] in the emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, next generation communications network (6G), open-RAN technology, quantum technology, and bio-technology."



On May 28, Vice Minister Yong Hongtaek of the Ministry of Science and ICT visited the Korea Dementia Research Center (Director Muk In-hee; “KDRC”) to discuss efficient ways for joint research between Korea and the U.S. and listen to comments from the employees.



The government is planning to invest a total of KRW 198.7 billion (national budget KRW 169.4 billion) for 9 years from 2020 in the Dementia Treatment Research and Development Programme ("Dementia R&D Programme") with the goal of 50% reduction in the increase rate of dementia patients and 5% global market share in the dementia treatment technology.



The KDRC has been conducting comprehensive dementia research since its launch in August 2020, such as prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dementia, starting with 24 research and development projects.



Eight months after the KDRC was launched, it has produced excellent results, including the publication of research findings on the link between Alzheimer's disease-causing proteins in the international journal Progress in Neurobiology (IF 10.64)*.
* "Plexin-A4 mediates amyloid-β-induced tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease animal model" (Chung Sunwoo of Seoul National University, Yang Jinhee of Bio Orchestra and six others)



Korea, a latecomer in dementia research, recognized the need for research cooperation with leading countries in this area to enhance its dementia research capabilities, and the Summit has spurred research on dementia cooperation between Korea and the U.S.



The KDRC decided to promote joint research on dementia big data with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and to participate in the Dominently Inherited AD Network (DIAN).



Discussions are currently underway between the KDRC, NIA, and DIAN on concrete cooperation plans, and the organizations are planning to exchange memorandum of understanding as early as the first half of this year and start research in the second half of this year.



Through cooperative research, it is expected that domestic researchers will utilize data from various dementia patients held by NIA to enhance research results, for example, identifying dementia risk factors, finding protection factors and developing biomarker diagnostic technology. This will enable Korea to become a leading nation for dementia research that can contribute to international dementia research networks.



At the meeting, Professor Muk Inhee (Seoul National University), the head of the KDRC, said, "Dementia is a common problem experienced by all people, so we need to respond through international cooperation. The KDRC will turn the cooperation with the US into an opportunity for enhancing Korea’s dementai research capabilities."



Vice Minister Yong Hong-taek of the MSIT said, "I hope the KDRC discover new topics even after this cooperative project to strengthen research cooperation with the U.S. The MSIT will actively support Korea-US cooperation for dementia research."



For further information, please contact Deputy Director Lee Woon Kyu (E-mail : wklee7@korea.kr) of the MInistry of Science and ICT.