Scripps to build joint venture in S. Korea's Gangwon Province: official

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 25 (Yonhap) -- The world's largest biochemical research
institute, The Scripps Research Institute, will soon establish a joint venture
with South Korea's Gangwon Province, a spokesman for the provincial government
said Wednesday.
Governor Kim Jin-sun will sign an agreement at the institute in San Diego Friday
to build The Scripps Korea Antibody Institute at Gangwon National University in
Chuncheon City, the capital of Gangwon Province, by September, said the official
accompanying Kim here.
Among others who are attending the signing ceremony are Scripps Chairman Richard
A. Lerner, Gangwon National University President Kwon Young-jung and Chuncheon
City Mayor Lee Kwang-jun.
Scripps is the leading nonprofit institute in biochemistry, with more than 3,000
researchers and three Nobel chemistry and medicine laureates.
Kim hopes that the establishment of the joint venture will help Gangwon Province
emerge as a regional bioengineering center that can create more than 2,000 jobs
and hundreds of millions of dollars in added value in the coming years.
"I think the joint venture will help upgrade the research and development
capability of South Korea," he said.
hdh@yna.co.kr