[Contribution] Measurement standards vital to 2 Koreas

If inter-Korean exchanges are invigorated following the historic summit, the focus of the government`s policy should be put on the restoration of national homogeneity.

Of the tasks for restoring national homogeneity, the national measurement business is a very important, fundamental and principal cooperative task. This is because the national measurement standardization is the backbone for the maintenance of business activities by conforming basic measurement criterion among the related state organizations.

Measurement standards are a key method of guaranteeing mutual convertibility of products and data through maintaining precision for measurements stemming from industrial performance.

In the era of globalization, without measurement standardization, it is difficult for nations to conduct smooth exchanges of materials and information. For that reason, setting measurement criteria is necessary for inter-Korean exchanges.

If inter-Korean cooperation is put into full gear, the maintenance of convertibility for parts and materials that are manufactured in factories both in the South and the North become even more vital when exchanges are expanded into such up-to-date sectors as electronics and precision machinery.

In order to address this problem, this writer proposes the establishment of a standardization center in the West Sea Industrial Complex in the North, so that the center will function as the state correction mechanism.

In view of the fact that international standards function at the related North Korean agency, the setup of the standards center in the North`s West Sea industrial complex is a matter that must be considered with utmost priority. Yet for the establishment of the standards center to be compatible with international standards, it seems difficult for the North to set up and operate the organization independently, in light of its sluggish function heretofore.

In this regard, the Korea Standard Scientific Research Institute, the nation`s representative body in international organizations, should take the lead in the construction project for the setup of the North`s standardization center. The institute has been functioning as the highest organ providing technologies and maintaining standards for 169 state agencies that are designated and managed by domestic industrial complexes. And it has played a role in assisting domestic industrial firms in using measurement devices correctly and precisely.

For the present, the standards institute is mapping out plans for gradual establishment and management of the West Sea center in the North. The institute also is planning to help the setups of other industrial complexes there.

In particular, included in the program is the measurement standard for radioactive and chemical sectors to support the nuclear reactors now under construction in Simpo, North Korea, by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization. In this manner, the West Sea center is expected to play a bridge role in uniting standard systems between the two Koreas in the long run.

The validity of state measurement standardization is not only useful for industrial activities but also necessary for all fields such as environmental, defense, economic and social endeavors. Therefore, the standardization project is a potential source for national reunification. The government is required to pay special attention to the formation of infrastructure that can genuinely link the South and the North, while refraining from its demonstrative programs aimed at reaping eye-catching effects like the creations of industrial complexes.

Eun Hee-Jun / Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science