On March 19, 2012, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning the collaboration of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to enhance the collaboration between the two institutes. This agreement will be the first step toward the participation of South Korea to the ALMA Project.

In 2002, the NAOJ and the KASI concluded a VLBI collaboration agreement to form a single telescope by connecting radio telescopes located in each county. The ALMA collaboration MoU signed this time will strengthen cooperation between the two institutes in radio astronomy. Furthermore, it is expected that future participation of South Korea to the East Asia ALMA group (current members are Japan and Taiwan) will widen and diversify our research activities.

The picture shows the attendees of the signing ceremony (from left): Sung-Kee　Cho (Head of Office of International and Public Relations, KASI); Satoru Iguchi (East Asia ALMA Project Manager, NAOJ); Hideyuki Kobayashi (NAOJ Vice-Director General), Shoken Miyama (NAOJ Director General); Pil-Ho Park (KASI President); Han Seog-Tae (KASI Vice President); Hyun-Goo Kim (Head of Radio Astronomy Division, KASI); and Jongsoo Kim (Head of Radio Astronomy Research Center, KASI).