Official Visit to Republic of Korea

The visit included a wide range of meetings with Korean Government Ministers along with Presidents and Directors of research funding organizations and research institutions. Discussions focused on the following three main themes:

Green Growth in Korea

A new project at IIASA is investigating the transition pathways toward a low carbon green Korea by 2050. The project, which started in June this year will deliver its final results by the end of 2013,  aims to:

1. Explore what a low carbon green economy in 2050 could look like in practice,
2. Identify what kind of fundamental changes are required, and
3. Research how the necessary fundamental changes could be managed.

In separate meetings Dr. Young-Sook Yoo, Minister of Environment; Professor Don-Koo Lee, Minister of Forestry; and Dr. Soo-Gil Young, Chairman, Presidential Committee on Green Growth strongly endorsed the project and with Professor Kabat, they agreed to establish closer collaboration between IIASA and Korean researcher institutions.. In particular, researchers from the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center of Korea (GIR) and the Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI) will work with IIASA researchers from the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas (MAG) program, Energy (ENE) program, and the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) program to help achieve the research goals of the project and maximize the impact of the research on Korean policy.

 World Water Scenarios

Meetings with Minister Do-Youp Kwon and Vice Minister Man-Hee Han of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (see photo); Dr. Eun-Kyung Park, President, Korea Water Forum; and Dr. Deuk-Koo Koh, Director, Korea Water Resources Corporation (KWater) Research Institute discussed IIASA’s new water research. The Koreans agreed to join a new project, Global Water Futures and Solutions: World Water Scenarios, initiated by IIASA, the World Water Council and UNESCO  in discussion  with UN Water. The project’s objectives include developing global and regional quantitative scenarios that will improve our understanding of the impact of different water-related decisions and increase our foresight for more effective water resources management. The scenarios will be launched at the 7^th World Water Forum (WWF) in Daegu,  Korea, March 2015.

National Member

The Republic of Korea is one of 19 member countries of IIASA with the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea representing the country on IIASA’s governing Council. Several meetings focused on strengthening the collaborations between IIASA and NRF and included Prof Kabat’s discussions with Dr. Yul-Rae Cho, Vice Minister of Education, Science and Technology; Professor Seung-Jong Lee, President, NRF; and Dr. Gul-Woo Lee, Director General, NRF. To help maximize the value of IIASA’s membership for Korea, Prof Kabat and NRF agreed to second an official from NRF to IIASA.

Minister Do-Youp Kwon of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs in discussion with Prof Kabat, IIASA’s Director and CEO.

Last edited: 14 May 2013