Pres. office `inspecting alleged copying of accelerator design`

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae is known to be investigating the alleged copying of Korea Rare Isotope Accelerator’s design and favoritism in the allocation of research grants.

A presidential office source told The Dong-A Ilbo over the phone Sunday, “On the news report on the copying of Korea Rare Isotope Accelerator (KoRIA) design in a Dong-A Ilbo report dated Thursday, we called in Dr. Hong Seung-woo, a physics professor at Sungkyunkwan University who is the chief researcher for basic design, and got details,” adding, “As most of the matters that the news report raised issue with have been proven to be true, the government will not let the situation go unaddressed.”

“When the office of the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs expressed its will to conduct an investigation, we told the former that the office of the senior presidential secretary for national future is doing the probe, and it accepted that."

The senior secretary for national future’s office, which is in charge of science and technology, listened to what Hong had to say on the allegation that KoRIA’s linear accelerator copied the design of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University. He reportedly told the secretary’s office in detail problems that surfaced in the course of creating the basic design, including conflict among researchers over the selection of chief researcher for basic design last year and suspicions over copying of design.

As Kim Yeong-ki, deputy director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the U.S., told a news briefing in a visit to Korea, “The concept design of the accelerator itself was not a subject of copying,” the presidential office also investigated Sunday if Kim, who was an adviser for basic design in the early phase of the project, received tips from the Education, Science and Technology Ministry and what the purpose of her visit was.

uneasy75@donga.com kyoutae@donga.com