KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES

CTBTO-ROK Expert Meetings in Daejeon

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources(KIGAM, President Dr. Pyeong-Koo Lee) hosted “Expert Meetings on Special Studies(SS) and Expert Technical Analysis(ETA) with Waveform Methods and RadioNuclide(RN) and Atmosphere Transport Modelling(ATM) Methods” on October 16-20, 2023 at Hotel Interciti in Daejeon, Korea. The meetings aim to have discussions and derive technical improvement results on SS and ETA with waveform methods and RN and ATM methods by related experts, and ultimately contribute to international nonproliferation.

The event was co-organized by KIGAM and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization(CTBTO) and cooperated by Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety(KINS) and Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control(KINAC). Dr. Pyeong-Koo Lee, the President of KIGAM, Mr. Gerhard Graham, the Officer-in-Charge of IDC Division of CTBTO, Ms. Eun-Jin Park, Director for Disarmament and Nonproliferation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea(MOFA), Mr. Rong-Song Jih, the Senior S&T Advisor of the U.S. Department of State, attended the meetings. Also, more than 80 experts from about 40 countries attended the meetings.

On October 19, the experts visited Korea Seismological Research Station(KSRS) in Wonju, Korea. KSRS is the seismological research station operated by KIGAM, which is the largest seismological research station in the East Asia and 2nd largest in the world. The data of earthquakes and nuclear tests in Korea and neighboring countries that are detected by KSRS are directly transmitted to KIGAM in real time. Also, KSRS is doing an important role as a hub station for detecting and monitoring induced seismicity and nuclear weapon testing in the East Asia region, through sharing the data with Air Force Technical Applications Center(AFTAC) in the U.S. and International Data Centre(IDC) of CTBTO.

Dr. Pyeong-Koo Lee said that “Starting with attending expert group meeting in 1994 held in Geneva, Switzerland, KIGAM has been actively participating in discussions on Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty so far. This continuous cooperation led us to today’s international expert meetings.” Also, he emphasized that “KIGAM will continue to do our best for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and international nuclear nonproliferation through cooperative partnership with CTBTO.”