Brussels, 23/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - The day after the signature of the international ITER agreement in Paris on 21 November, European Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik received Korean science and technology minister Kim Woo-shik and Japanese parliamentary secretary for education and science Toshiei Mizuochi in Brussels. With the former, he and Finnish trade and industry minister Mauri Pekkarinen signed the EU-South Korean Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement and an agreement on developing cooperation in nuclear fusion research. Mr Potocnik and Mr Mizuochi initialled the agreement on the “broader approach” to research on fusion. This agreement is part of the package negotiated between the EU and Japan to allow the construction of the experimental ITER reactor at Cadarache in the south east of France. The broader approach comprises: - the development of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) which will allow advanced materials to be tested and qualified in an environment similar to that of a future fusion power plant; - the upgrading of the Japanese JT-60U tokamak to an advanced superconducting toka²mak (it will be used as a “satellite” facility to ITER; - the creation of an International Fusion Energy Research Centre, the tasks of which will include the coordination of DEMO Design and R&D activities, large-scale simulation activities of fusion plasmas by super-computer and remote experimentation activities to permit the broad participation of scientists in ITER projects. The European contributions will be largely provided on a voluntary basis by EU Member States (and possibly associated states), channelled through the Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy, which is being set up in Barcelona. (oj)