South Korea is set to strengthen cooperation with the world's largest particle physics laboratory in the field of high-energy physics.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said Monday that it is currently negotiating with the European Organization for Nuclear Research to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement.

A ministry official said the research institute had recently proposed drafting a cooperation agreement to carry out substantial joint research with Korean scientists.

The European research body is regarded to be at the forefront of international particle physics research, a major discipline in modern physics. The Switzerland-based organization also possesses a 27-kilometer particle accelerator, the largest in the world.