ASCoF (Association des Scientifiques Coréens en France, an association according to the French civil law of 1901 defining nonprofit organizations) was founded at Paris in 1976 by South Korean scientists including Dr Sen Sik MIN (professor and former dean of the University of Nantes), Dr Young Chul LEE (on leave from the Korean Oceanographic Research Institute), and others, in response to the South Korean government’s wishes to promote scientific and technological cooperations between Korea and developed countries through the Korean scientists and engineers residing in those countries. It was the fourth of the kind after KSEA (USA in 1971), VeKNI (West Germany in 1973) and KSEAUK (UK in 1974). Dr Lee was the first president and served for a year, then Dr Min has served as the second president and continued for a couple of more years. Several regional branches were also founded, the Toulouse branch having counted the largest number of members in the beginning. A large majority of its members consisted of beneficiaries of the French government scholarships, in particular, of the priority program that began in 1976 and continued for several years.

The main aims of ASCoF are to contribute to the international scientific and technological cooperations and to build networks between its members as appears in the statute. Every year, ASCoF organizes academic meetings by itself or in cooperation with other sister associations or with Korean academic organizations. It holds two yearly meetings, the spring and the fall meetings, the latter taking place in Paris region and the former elsewhere, according to tradition. The regional branches of ASCoF also organize their own activities. ASCoF is one of the four main organizers of the Europe-Korea Conference (EKC), together with VeKNI, KSEAUK and KOSEAA (Austria), which takes place in Europe in every summer.

ASCoF, as other similar associations worldwide (there are sixteen in the beginning 2013), is a member of the KOFST (Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies), Seoul, since its foundation, and is financially supported by the latter. The official address of ASCOF is “102 Avenue de Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris, France.” The Korean scientists and engineers or foreign nationals having close ties with Korea residing in metropolitan French territory and in Belgium can become members. The regular members should hold a Master degree or equivalent in science and technology, and should be exercising professions related in science and technology. More than two hundreds members were replying to the emails as of January 2013. Among them, about thirty regular members are holding tenured job positions and others include postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, non-tenured job-holders, entrepreneurs, and long term visitors.

According to the statute, the president (two-year term, renewable only once), the vice-president (two-year term) and the auditor (one-year term) are elected in the general assembly by universal suffrage. The structure of ASCoF defined in the statute counts the executive bureau, the board of administration, the science committee, and the regional branches. Elected representatives of the regional branches and the representatives of specialty divisions issued from the science committee, whose terms undefined in the statute, seat in the board of administration. The major policies are decided in the board of administration meetings and are carried out by the executive bureau. The executive bureau consists of the president, the vice-president, the secretary general, the treasurer, and others nominated by the president and approved by the board of administration. The auditor monitors closely and continuously the activities and the expenses of the association and publishes a yearly report covering the period running from the beginning to the end of the civil year.

This website is the official one of ASCoF and every important communication with its members and outside organizations appears therein.