Kyushu University and Chungnam National University (Korea) organized a two-day seminar in Fukuoka as part of the Core University Program on Next Generation Internet, which is supported by JSPS and KOSEF.

This core university program was started in 2003, and the February seminar was its second plenary meeting, the first having been held at Chungnam National University in September 2003. Despite the short interval of six months between the two meetings, many of the participating Japanese and Korean researchers have already developed close collaborative relationships through their exchange and joint research activities. Currently, the program comprises six primary research groups: namely, Networking, e-Learning, Digital Video, Security, Virtual Reality, and GRID.

The main purpose of this second seminar was for the groups to share their research progress with each other, with an expectation of creating cross-research connections between the groups. Attended by nearly 100 researchers, the meeting featured more than 40 presentations. Mr. Tsuyoshi Enomoto, head of JSPS's Asian Program Division, joined the meeting, at which engaging discussions on related themes were enjoyed among all. At this last phase of the program's first year, many Japanese and Korean researchers expressed confidence that more in-depth research on the "next generation Internet" can be expected between two countries in 2004 and beyond.