The Seventh Asian Conference on Remote Sensing
Seoul, Korea October 23-28, 1986

Opening session of the 7th ACRS in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Introduction

The Seventh Asian Conference on Remote Sensing was held at Johnson Hall of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) during 23-28 October, 1986 in Seoul, Korea. The conference was hosted by the Korean Society of Remote Sensing (KSRS), in co-operation with the Asian Association on Remote Sensing(AARS), with the support of the Japan Association of Remote Sensing(JARS). The objective of the conference was to discuss and solve Asian problems in remote sensing, to exchange academic and technical information, and to promote applications of remote sensing technology.

Opening Session

Mr. Kyung Mo An as conference president presented the welcome address of the conference. Professor Sunji Murai as general secretary of the AARS thanked the organizing committee members for hosting the conference in his keynote address. Opening address was presented by Dr. Ki Soo Sung as organizing committee chairman. The following were the welcome remarks by Mr. An:

Opening Remarks by Mr. K. M. An

"I cordially welcome Dr. Shunji Murai, General Secretary of Asian Association on Remote Sensing and Professor of University of Tokyo in Japan and I cordially also welcome the delegates of Asian and Non-Asian countries, the invitees from the Korean Government and all the participants to this seventh Asian conference on Remote Sensing which is held today, in Korea, relatively remote form the most of the Asian Countries.

Since the first artificial satellite launched about thirty years ago, the remote sensing technology has remarkably developed. And the interest in remote sensing from space had been greatly heightened by the launching, in July 1972, of the first Earth Resource Technology Satellite, now renamed LANDSAT-1. Indeed, the latest satellite transmit to the earth the precious information for a lot of field of interest, which was probable not imaginably thirty years ago.

It is true that the general level of the Asian technology is not higher than that of some European or American countries. But I do not think that this fact is important. In the early history, the Asians established the most brilliant civilization in the world. Nowadays, about one third of the populations of the world live in Asia. So I am sure that we can re-establish our ancient glory, if the three billion Asians help one another.
I am not a remote sensing specialist. But when I was a member of Korean Cabinet, I believed that the remote sensing technique should be used for efficient land use and management even though the space craft remote sensing was yet in the early stage at that time. And I even insist it now, not only because the performance of the remote sensing technique is sufficiently proved, but also because the proper utilization and management of the territories of each Asian countries is the first thing to be done for the accumulation of capacity.

I hope that the result of studies and information exchanged during this opportunity will be helpful to each participant.

Welcome again to the peaceful garden of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, situated in the Northern part of Seoul, and hope you will enjoy the autumn colors of our country and have a fruitful conference."

Session on panel discussion at the 7th ACRS in Seoul, Republic of Korea..

Review of Sessions

The conference was successful in creating well-balanced advance program between technical sessions and social events for all participants. The Program committee comprised Prof. Sang Soo Lee as chairman and Dr. Pil Chong Kang, Dr. Young Kyu Yang, Prof. Kyu Hong Choi, Dr. Hong Rhyong Yoo, Dr. Kyoung Yoon Park as members.

The 8 national reports were presented by the participating countries on the themes of remote sensing activities. The countries were : India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea. A total of 209 participants from 15 Asian and Non-Asian countries registered and attended the conference.

All-together, 63 papers were presented in oral and poster sessions. The papers were given on topics such as: GIS, Land Use/Cartography, Water Resources/ Hydrology, Agriculture /Forestry, Oceanography/ Meteorology, Geology /Geomorphology, Data Processing and Microcomputer in Education and Training.

Other Activities

Participants at the Commercial Exhibitions of the Conference were : Carl Zeiss from Germany, EOSAT from USA, Gould from USA, Macdonald Dettwiler from Canada, MPA from Australia, Numelec from France, ISRO/NRSA from India, ITI from USA, Optimech Engineers from India, SEP from France, Sita Electronics from India, Speck System from India and Yang Electronic Com. from USA.A technical visit to Banwol industrial town and dam site of Dae-Chung was hosted by Korea Water Resources Corporation (KOWACO).

Contributors
Prof. Choen Kim