KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM)’s President Dr. Kyu Han Kim participated the 『1st Trilateral GeoSummit』 on April 8th of 2015 in Beijing, China. The 『Trilateral GeoSummit』 is a regulatory meeting for leaders and experts between Korea, China, and Japan’s leading geological research institutes in every 2 years with rotations of the hosting country. In the meeting, there are going to be in depth discussions about the urgently raised geoscience issues and commonly interested topics from the three countries, later on it can perhaps include the geoscience community across the world.

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), the 『Trilateral GeoSummit』 leading initiator, suggested China Geological Survey (CGS) and Geological Survey of Japan(GSJ) to strengthening earth science R&D network for greater future collaborations beyond three countries’ complicated political and historical hardships.

There are numerous official bilateral research collaborations between KIGAM-GSJ and KIGAM-CGS since 1997 and 2007 respectively. However, this 『Trilateral GeoSummit』 is the first attempt to link Korea, China, and Japan all at once in the earth science field. This earth science coalition brings out the grand meanings because this is a step forward for the new era of Korea, China, and Japan’s geoscience R&D.

The 『1st Trilateral GeoSummit』 is hosted by CGS as the starter, and “Geological Mapping”, “3D Geological Exploration”, and “Geo-environment Hazard” are selected as the major topics for the technical session, which is the discussion for the possible earth science R&D cooperation. This time, KIGAM will deliver the presentations about (1) Co-Jointed International Geological Mapping projects in East Asia, called “Deep Processes and Metallogeny of the Northern-Central-Eastern Asia” (2) Mineral potential mapping based on 3D geological modeling (3) Mt. Beakdusan’s volcano activities. In particular, the Mt. Beakdusan’s volcano research and international geological map project can promote positive synergies when the three countries’ cooperation collages.

Finally, the next 『2nd Trilateral GeoSummit』 is expected to be organized by KIGAM Korea in 2017. It is for pre-commemorating the KIGAM’s centennial anniversary in 2018. Dr. Kyu Han Kim, the President of KIGAM mentioned that this 『Trilateral GeoSummit』 shall contribute to proliferate “Korean Science Wave”, simply “K-Geoscience” for empowering KIGAM’s global leaderships. Furthermore, the three countries’ geological leaders’ cooperation will open the new chapter in earth science R&D.