Seoul, July 29 (IANS): South Korea's science ministry on Monday said that it has selected four joint science research projects with global top-tier research institutes to support for up to 10 years.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the projects include cooperation between Seoul's Institute for Basic Science and Tokyo's National Research and Development Agency on researching technologies for creating rare isotopes through RAON, a heavy-ion accelerator developed by South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

The ministry will also support joint research on hydrogen technologies by Seoul National University and Stanford University in the US, as well as a project on creating an advanced lab to test autonomous driving technologies by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology plans to join hands with Belgium's Rega Institute for Medical Research to develop vaccines and treatments for viruses with the potential to cause a pandemic.