The Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center of the next Generation Bio-Green 21 Project was established through a public contest by Rural Development Administration (RDA) in South Korea. Prof. Park Soon-ki of Kyungpook National University was selected as the research team leader in January 2018.

Figure: Prof. Park Soon-ki of Kyungpook National University

The next-generation Bio-Green 21 Project is a national project in cooperation with industries and academies. The objective of the project is to secure global technology competitiveness and future value of agriculture industry in Korea through establishing the research infrastructure and securing agricultural biotechnology. The project is funded with 24.6 billion KRW by RDA in total and 8.2 billion KRW per year for three years.

With the purpose of agro-bio industry development to lead the world, the Research Center is conducting development studies on the future food security, biotech crops which adapt to future climate change, securing core gene and source technology for global seed market, new technology development and application, and GM safety assessment and managerial approaches.

"Research for agriculture biotechnology and biotech seed development are state-of-the-art agricultural technologies that can overcome agricultural field problems that are difficult to solve with existing breeding technologies, and therefore those are key technologies that must be secured in the aspect of national competitiveness. Unlike other developed countries such as the United States and Europe, Korea has been running down due to the enormous cost of research and social opposition," said Park Soon-Ki, the director of Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center.

"However, I will do my best to secure technology of biotech crops development for future climate change adaptation and overcome the limitations in Korean agriculture through this project so that the country can leap forward as a global biotech seed developer," he said.

Read the original article (Korean) in Daily UNN.