State-funded geological institutes of South Korea and China are hoping Japan will join their joint research of a dormant volcano in North Korea, a South Korean research institute said Monday, in what could be a rare bit of cooperation among the three nations on the Korean Peninsula's highest peak, Mt. Baekdu.
Volcanologists from the three nations' geological institutes -- the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), the China Geological Survey and the Japan Geological Survey -- will hold their first trilateral meeting in Beijing on Wednesday to seek a three-way joint study into volcanic activity on the mountain that sits on the North Korea-China border.