□ The Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM / President: Lee Jin-Yong) announced that leading officials from the WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific and government delegations from major countries in traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine paid visit to the institute.

◦ KIOM was designated as a WHO collaborating center in 2011 and has since engaged in collaboration with the WHO for improvement of scientific evidence in traditional medicine, implementation of WHO’s local strategies for traditional medicine, promotion of information on traditional medicine, etc.

□ More than 20 individuals, including Team leader Shin Jin-ho at the WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific and Juan Paolo Tonolete, Technical Officer at WHO Philippines, participated in the visit.

◦ The visitors included leading delegates from eight organizations in five East Asian countries involved in traditional medicine (Korea, China, Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam), such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care in the Philippines, the Ministry of Health in Malaysia, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Vietnam.

□ They were greeted by President Lee Jin-Yong and then briefed on the status of its research activities by Director Lee Yu-jeong of the Global Cooperation Center at KIOM.

◦ After that, there was a presentation on the topic of COVID-19 and traditional medicine by Principal Researcher Lee Myeong-su at the KM Science Research Division, followed by discussion on possible collaboration for R&D in traditional medicine for the response to the global pandemic.

◦ Lastly, the visitors looked around the Korean Herbal Medicine Specimen Museum and Donguibogam Memorial Hall led by Senior Researcher Yun Ji-won at KIOM’s KM Data Division.

□ President Lee of KIOM said, “The interest in the role of traditional medicine including Korean medicine in responding to the global pandemic is increasing throughout the world. We will strengthen our cooperation with leading global institutions to address new infectious diseases as a top research institution in Korean medicine and a WHO collaborating center in traditional medicine.”