MSIT Deepens International Cooperation with Fusion Frontrunners…Setting Sights on Power Demonstration in the 2030s

First Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae Attends as Head of Delegation at Global Fusion Policy Summit Co-Hosted by the UK and US

Jang Hyung-im, Reporter Posted 2026/09/15 [10:49] Article No. 58593

Koo Hyuk-chae, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon), attended the Global Fusion Policy Summit held at Mansion House in London, UK, on Monday, September 14, as head of the Korean delegation, discussing ways to expand bilateral and multilateral international cooperation with fusion frontrunners such as the UK and the US. The move aims to broaden a cooperation framework that had centered on technology development into the regulatory and industrial domains, in order to accelerate the government’s goal of demonstrating fusion power in the 2030s.

[코리안투데이] First Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae of the Ministry of Science and ICT attends the Global Fusion Policy Summit held in London, UK © 장형임 기자

The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon, hereinafter MSIT) announced that First Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae attended the Global Fusion Policy Summit as head of delegation. The summit was held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time on Monday, September 14, at Mansion House in London, UK.

The event was co-hosted by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the US Department of Energy (DOE), bringing together the governments of nine countries — the US, the UK, Korea, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Finland — along with research institutes, companies and investment institutions. Participants held wide-ranging discussions on policy and regulatory directions and on inter-state cooperation to accelerate the commercialization of fusion energy. Attendees included, from the UK, Michael Shanks, Minister of State for Energy at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; from the US, Dario Gil, Under Secretary for Science at the Department of Energy; and, from international organizations, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

MSIT has underscored the importance of fusion by selecting the technology as a key component of its K-Moonshot program, which takes on grand challenges in science and technology on the strength of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, and of the seven SEED Projects aimed at securing future growth engines. It is providing full support to accelerate the relevant technology development, with the goals of developing an innovative Korean-type fusion reactor and demonstrating fusion power in the 2030s.

International cooperation to bring about the early commercialization of fusion power has also continued. Since the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Joint Implementation Agreement entered into force in 2007, MSIT has cooperated with international organizations by supplying core components such as superconducting conductors and vacuum vessels and by securing additional orders. It has also worked to advance domestic fusion technology through bilateral cooperation, holding regular consultative bodies with technology-leading nations such as the US, the EU and Japan to sustain technical exchanges and joint research.

The latest summit was significant in that it served as an occasion to diversify an international cooperation framework — one that had focused on technology development and acquisition — into new areas such as regulation and commercialization. By having research institutions, regulatory agencies and industry jointly explore avenues for cooperation, the scope of collaboration was broadened beyond technology to encompass institutions and the industrial ecosystem as a whole.

In a bilateral meeting with UK Minister of State Shanks, First Vice Minister Koo highlighted the achievements of Korea-UK research and development cooperation, including the joint development of high-temperature superconducting magnets to be installed in the UK’s next-generation fusion demonstration reactor STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), and discussed the potential for further cooperation to establish a fusion-specific regulatory framework and to foster the industrial ecosystem. STEP is a next-generation (high-temperature superconducting, spherical tokamak) fusion demonstration reactor being built under the direction of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), with the goal of completion and power demonstration in 2040.

At the roundtable of government heads of delegation, co-chaired by Minister of State Shanks and US Under Secretary Gil, participants shared the status of each country’s fusion program, reviewed areas urgently requiring international cooperation within the next five years, and discussed frameworks for multilateral cooperation to realize them.

First Vice Minister Koo said, ‘With the early commercialization of fusion power growing urgent as we seek to meet electricity demand expected to surge in the future, there is a need to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation with fusion frontrunners such as the US and the UK across various fields — including the development and acquisition of core technologies, the establishment of a fusion-specific regulatory framework, and the fostering of a fusion industry ecosystem.’ He added, ‘In particular, I share the sense of the need for a multilateral consultative body in the fusion field, as discussed at the roundtable, and I hope we can carry forward substantive cooperation on technology development, regulation, standard-setting and more.’

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