The 29th Meeting of China-Korea Joint Committee on Basic Science Research (hereinafter referred to as the “China-Korea Joint Committee”) was held in Tianjin on June 24–25, 2025. Zhiyong HAN , Deputy Secretary General of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and Seoklae LEE, Secretary General of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), attended the meeting and delivered remarks.

During the meeting, participants discussed and selected projects for the 2025 China-Korea collaborative exchange programs and academic symposiums. Consensus was further reached on strengthening bilateral cooperation, priority areas for the 2025 jointly-funded research projects, and the schedule and venue for the next China-Korea Joint Committee meeting.

Pursuant to the agreement signed between NSFC and NRF, the China-Korea Joint Committee was established in 1995. Comprising eight experts each from China and Korea, it has provided an institutional guarantee for collaboration between the research funding agencies of both nations. The current co-chairs of the committee are Academician Nanfeng ZHENG (Xiamen University, China) and Professor Byeong Soo BAE (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea). Under this mechanism, NSFC and NRF have jointly funded 769 collaborative exchange programs and bilateral symposiums to date. This year, the committee newly approved 28 collaborative exchange programs and 10 bilateral symposiums.

Dr. Minjung BAIK, Director of the International Talent Office at NRF, and staff from NSFC’s Bureau of International Cooperation, attended the meeting. Following the meeting, the delegation visited several research institutions, including Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin University, and the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.