FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             Roger Rensberger
Sept. 12, 1994                     (301) 975-2762

                                   TN-5989

                     U.S./KOREA AGREE TO COOPERATE ON

              TECHNICAL ISSUES TO IMPROVE INTERNATIONAL TRADE

     A memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation was
signed today by the Commerce Department's National Institute of
Standards and Technology and the Korea Research Institute of
Standards and Science to help remove non-tariff trade barriers
between the United States and the Republic of Korea.

     The MOU in the fields of chemistry, physics and engineering
measurement sciences was signed by Arati Prabhakar, NIST
director, and Myung Sai Chung, president of KRISS.

     The memorandum provides a framework for the exchange of
scientific and technical knowledge services and the augmentation
of scientific and technical capabilities of the parties with
respect to agreed upon scientific fields.

     The types of cooperative activities under the memorandum may
consist of exchanges of technical information, reference data and
materials, calibrations, and standards; exchange visits;
cooperative research in disciplines of mutual interest within the
scope of programs of the parties; and other forms of cooperative
activities as mutually agreed upon by NIST and KRISS.

     The MOU renews a previous agreement between NIST and the
former Korea Standards Research Institute.  KSRI was established
in 1975 as the central authority of the Korean national standards
system.  KSRI was reorganized in 1991 by incorporating the Korea
Basic Sciences Center and the Institute of Space Science and
Astronomy.

     KRISS is located in Taedok Science Town and has
approximately 500 staff members.  Its main functions are to
maintain, improve and disseminate the Korean national measurement
standards, to conduct research and development on precision
measurement technology, and to provide technical support to
industry.

     Scientists at KRISS participate in international standards
activities such as the International Organization for
Standardization in Geneva.  The Korean institute has memorandums
of cooperation with many of the national metrology laboratories
in the world's leading industrial countries.

     The MOU with KRISS is similar to other agreements in
measurement science that NIST has with Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador
and Venezuela as well as other agreements with nations of the
Americas to improve international trade.

     The Commerce Department has identified the Republic of Korea
in a category of countries that are called the "Big Emerging
Markets."  The other BEM countries that hold promise for large
incremental gains in U.S. exports include China, Indonesia,
India, Turkey, South Africa, Poland, Argentina, Brazil and
Mexico.

     As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by
working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.

                                   -30-

NOTE TO EDITORS:  For information on the memorandum of
understanding between NIST and KRISS, contact the Office of
International and Academic Affairs, A505 Administration 
Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-3089,
fax: (301) 975-3530, e-mail:  OIAA@micf.nist.gov (via Internet).