SEOUL, March 25 – South Korea is ready to join hands with Thailand to prevent floods, as Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra visited one of its flood monitoring centres in Seoul on Sunday.
Ms Yingluck and her entourage visited the Han River Flood Control Center, as part of her trip to South Korea to attend the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul from March 24-27.
Kwon Do-youp, South Korea’s minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs briefed Ms Yingluck during her visit to the centre, which supports exchange of information and technology with international agencies.
Ms Yingluck was interested in learning more about information management and integration. South Korea’s flood warning system can issue a warning six to seven hours in advance. The country took two years to integrate related agencies to establish the flood centre.
South Korea had faced massive periodic flooding until 1974, when four flood control centres were formed to monitor, analyse information for forecast and warn other agencies and the public.The centres cooperate with the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water), overseeing the whole system.
On Saturday, the Thai Prime Minister met South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, holding talks on trade, investment and tourism. Thailand, currently facing a trade deficit with South Korea, aims to increase trade and investment to US$30 billion by 2015.
