Younguk Sohn (left) and Jinhyuk Choi.

The Global Design Effort used to have two Korean members, one from Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP) and the other from Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL). But when a member from PAL moved to CHEP, the GDE recruited two new members, Jinhyuk Choi and Younguk Sohn of PAL, to restore balance.

Choi serves as a division head in an Accelerator Division at PAL. He got his PhD in 1988 at Seoul National University and has been working in accelerator physics ever since. In 2004, Choi started doing ILC related work. "I am mainly responsible for coordination of ILC Korea now. I want to get more involved in the future, because there is a lot of exciting work to do. Furthermore I am thinking of launching a website for ILC Korea to communicate smoothly," Choi says.

Sohn is a senior researcher at PAL. He focuses on RF cavity work and received his degree from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in 1999. "My main role for the GDE is to work with RF cavities, " Sohn says. His ILC career also started in 2004 as a Korean convener of Working Group 5.

There is a big emphasis in Korea right now to work on government projects to develop more science and technology. "The first priority is to promote the technology of Superconducting RF cavities. Achieving these technological goals will also lead to development in some other areas,” said Choi. "We want to give more attention to the ILC in Korea, leading to more people working on the project. It will make the ILC collaboration bigger.”

Choi and Sohn’s involvement in the ILC has sparked new interests and hobbies. Last month, Choi started learning Japanese . "I want to speak and communicate in Japanese at KEK's meetings in the future, but I am now studying on the level of a fourth grade student in elementary school." For Sohn, a project like the ILC allows scientists from around the world to come together and work toward a common goal. "I love the phrase ‘We are the world.’ If we can all be friends, we can communicate easier," he says.

-- Nobuko Kobayashi