Daejeon

Daejeon is South Korea's fifth largest metropolis and the provincial capital of Chungnam. Daejeon had a population of over 1.5 million in 2010.

Located in the center of South Korea, Daejeon serves as a hub of transportation. It is at the crossroads of Gyeongbu railway, Honam railway, Gyeongbu Expressway, and Honam Expressway. With this transportation network, other major cities are accessible within 2 hours and Seoul is about 50 minutes by high speed train. Korail (Korea Railroad Corporation), K-water (Korea Water Resources Corporation) and KOMSCO (Korea Minting & Security Printing Corporation) are headquartered in Daejeon.

Daejeon serves as an administration hub with the National Government Complex. The Korean administration in the 1980s decided to relocate some of its functions from Seoul, the national capital, to other cities. Currently, 12 national government offices including Korea Customs Service, Small and Medium Business Administration, Public Procurement Service, the National Statistical Office, Military Manpower Administration, Korea Forest Service, Cultural Heritage Administration, Korean Intellectual Properties Office as well as Patent Court of Korea are located in Daejeon.

Daejeon is the science and technology capital of Korea. Research institutes in Daejeon include KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Korea Institute of Energy Research, Korea Institute of Machine and Materials, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Marine and Ocean Engineering Research Institute, the National Nanofab Center and KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute). Daedeok Science Town (Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone) is composed of 28 state-run research centers as well as 79 private research institutes with as many as 20,000 researchers. They have been developing world-class technologies which have led the nation's economic growth for the past 40 years. In addition, Daejeon established the WTA (World Technopolis Association) in 1998 with the view of realizing regional development through international cooperation with world science cities. Currently the WTA has grown to have 67 members from 32 countries, and it actively cooperates with many international organizations including UNESCO as its official consultative body.

Daejeon has 18 universities including Chungnam National University, Hanbat National University, Hannam University and UST (Korea University of Science and Technology). Daejeon has earned its name as "Asia's Silicon Valley" and "High technology city". The city hosted the Taejon Expo '93 and the International Mathematical Olympiads (IMO) in 2000.