KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Mt. Beakdu Volcanic Eruption Solutions for Two Koreas

Science and Technology Forum by The National Assembly of The Republic of Korea

Mt. Beakdu (Beakdu-San) is sacred to all Koreans. It is the beginning place for Korean nations historically, and all the founding fathers in our myth starts their legends. Recently, the risks for the Mt. Beakdu volcanic eruption are highly uprising. We never know when and how seriously the eruption is going to happen. But, time like this needs more joint research cooperation from the both South and North Koreas.

The interests on Mt. Beakdu’s volcanic eruption are growing, and Mr. Shim Jaekwon, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, Mr. Kim Sueng Whan, the Chairman of Korea Science and Technology Diplomacy Club, and Dr, Synn Joong-Ho, the President of Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources co-organized the Science & Technology Forum for ‘South & North Koreas Collaborations for Mt. Beakdu (Beakdu-San) Volcanic Eruption’ on February 1 2018. The forum’s main purposes are monitoring volcanic activities and joint R&D with the possible cooperation with the North Korea.

Mt. Beakdu is an active volcanic mountain with immense amount of underground magma estimated. There are some significant signs that shows the possibility of volcanic eruption is closer than any other time. In fact, 3000 times of volcanic earthquakes had been occurred between 2002 and 2005, and the top caldera of the Mt. Beakdu is shown a slightly swollen up. As many forum participants hopes, the South and North Koreas’ joint research on Mt. Beakdu increases the chances to forecast the future possible natural hazards and mitigation efforts in the Northeast Asian region in the divided by the North Korea and China.

The Forum was consisted with the two separate sessions with presentations and discussions. Mr. Shim Jaekwon, the Chairman at the Committee of the National Assembly, expects “Today’s forum becomes the headstone for the wise solution for the possible joint research for the two South and North Koreas, and promises further supports from the government.” Dr. Synn Joong-Ho, the President of KIGAM, mentioned that the South and North Koreas’ co-joint research activities will be an exemplary model to recover mutual trust between the two countries.