South Korea and the Netherlands hold their first Science and Technology Joint Committee meeting to discuss AI safety and quantum cooperation.

on November 6, according to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT stated on November 6 that it held the first ROK-Netherlands Joint Committee on Science and Technology meeting at its offices in Sejong City alongside the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Held for the first time pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on Research and Science Cooperation between South Korea and the Netherlands signed in 2024, the meeting featured shared updates on R&D investment directions and key science and technology policies, alongside discussions on global research security, AI safety policies, and the commercialization of research outcomes.

The National Research Foundation of Korea and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) have agreed to design joint research models tailored to areas of mutual interest that can generate synergies, and will subsequently issue a call for new topics for South Korean-Dutch international joint research projects. The NRF also proposed advancing cooperation in the quantum domain, including co-developing quantum chips leveraging both nations' semiconductor expertise, conducting collaborative testing, measurement, and standardization efforts to ensure international equivalence for quantum technologies, integrating the Korean quantum cluster with the Dutch Quantum Collaboration Foundation "Delta NL", and enhancing coordination on export controls for quantum technologies.

The Korean Biofoundry Institute proposed initiating synthetic biology cooperation anchored by infrastructure such as national biofoundries. Huang Chengxun (trans.), International Cooperation Officer at the Ministry of Science and ICT, noted that while the two countries previously established a cooperative foundation centered on semiconductors, they are now expanding their partnership into cutting-edge sectors such as quantum technologies and synthetic biology, and will actively facilitate substantive research collaboration moving forward.