Carbon in Korea

The history of carbon science in Korea is summarized in this review. There is a record of charcoal being used to maintain collections of woodblock prints at a stable relative humidity such as the Tripitaka Koreana that were engraved from 1237 to 1248 and are designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Carbon research in Korea has been led by researchers educated in foreign countries such as Germany, Japan, US, and England since the 1970s. These research activities resulted in the foundation of the Korean Carbon Society (KCS) in 1999 and its status was enhanced by hosting Carbon 2005 in Gyeongju. Nano-carbon research has further increased in universities following the award of the Nobel Prizes for research on fullerene and graphene. The regional governments of Jeonju City and Jeonbuk Province have supported the “Carbon Valley” project by establishing the Jeonju Institute of Machinery and Carbon Composites (JMC) in 2003 and inviting a Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST) branch, named the Institute of Advanced Composite Materials to focus on research on carbon composites in 2008. In 2011, JMC organized the 1st Carbon Industry Forum with strong support from carbon industries. In 2012, the Korean government supported the research of the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) to promote basic science in Korea and two carbon-related centers were selected.