SOUTH KOREA TO HAVE OPTICS RESEARCH CENTRE WITH RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION

MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - Joint developments in optical technologies is the goal of the Russian-assisted research centre being created in South Korea. It will open in 2005 upon the required personnel training, the South Korean Science and Technology Ministry said in Seoul on Wednesday.

According to the Renhap news agency, the ministry has announced plans for signing, in St.Petersburg on September 23, a memorandum on mutual understanding between the State Optical Institute (GOI) and the Korean Electrotechnical Research Institute.

The memorandum will reflect principles for establishing the joint research centre SOI-KOREA. It will develop research projects, including optical, lasers and medical equipment and reduce them to practice.

The Korean GOI research centre will not only do joint research work but will also be important for attaining international success in the development of latest products on the basis of combining resources and foremost Russian technologies with Korean commercial technologies, Renhap cites the science and technologies minister as saying.

The centre's philosophy will be research-commercialisation-common profit sharing.