The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries says that it will open a South Korea-Chile cooperation center within the Chilean Antarctic Research  Institute located in Punta Arenas in southern Chile on Friday.

The ministry said the center will pave the groundwork for cooperation between the two countries on scientific research in the Antarctic, while it will also support South Korea’s Antarctic research base, the King Sejong Station.

The ministry said it will use the center as a venue for various meetings and joint research projects with Chile and as a way to efficiently utilize the two countries’ infrastructure in the South Pole.

It will also seek building cooperative networks at the center with other countries conducting similar research such as the U.S. and Britain.

In 2014, a South Korea-Norway cooperation center was opened in the Arctic that supports South Korea’s Dasan Arctic Research Station.

In the same year, South Korea opened a cooperation center with New Zealand in the Antarctic that assists South Korea’s other Antarctic research base, the Jang Bogo Station.