Report on Participation at the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology Convention

In recognition of the necessity to promote international exchanges with the East Asian Region, the Executive Board has formerly decided to invite Chairman Kim of the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology (KSNMT) to the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine Technology (JSNMT) to be held in Osaka. I was assigned to take charge of the invitation at the Society Secretariat and started exchanging e-mails with Chairman Kim. One day, I was invited by Chairman Kim to take part in KSNMT. JSNMT has come to send its International Exchange Program team from two major perspectives: the position of the Secretariat to learn more about nuclear medicine technology in South Korea while deepening the relationship with KSNMT for the future and the position for us to publicize the forthcoming 27th Annual Meeting of JSNMT being held in Osaka.

The 2007 Spring Convention of KSNMT was held in Kyongju, northeast of Pusan and was a one day program on Saturday, May 12th. It was the same day when the Kanto Regional Meeting and the Kinki Regional Meeting were held in Japan. Thus, The Executive Committee had to develop an “omnipresent” plan of publicity activities, sending Mr. Keiichi Sugibayashi, Chairman of the Executive Committee to the Kanto Regional Meeting, while Mr. Masuo Hayashi, Chairman of the Academic Circle and Mr. Hiroyuki Taima, Chairman of the Planning Committee, went to the Kinki Regional Meeting. Three of us including Mr. Atsushi Imoto, Chairman of the Finance Committee and Mr. Takeshi Taketsuna, member of the Administration Committee and myself as Chairman of the Administration Committee went to Kyongju.

Our plan for this trip was to participate in KSNMT in Kyongju, where we stayed overnight and then went on to Seoul by land. In Seoul, we were supposed to make an inspection tour of Inha University Hospital, where Chairman Kim works. The Convention was due to open at 14:30, so we departed from Kansai International Airport on the 09:15 flight, arriving at Kimhae Airport in Pusan one hour later. Kimhae Airport was not as large and modern-looking as Incheon International Airport and it looked really like a local airport. It presented the atmosphere as if it were during the war (under a cease-fire, actually) with fighter planes lined up civil aircraft on the runway. Photo-taking was banned. Heading toward immigration after disembarking from our aircraft, the only language we heard was Korean. It was a sea change from the familiar scene in Incheon International Airport, where Japanese female fans chased after Korean actor Bae Yong Joon. Upon finishing immigration procedures, we were met by three persons including Dr. Kim Young-Hean of the KSNMT (not Chairman Kim Cahng-Ho). They were sent by Chairman Kim to welcome us at the airport. We left the airport riding in two cars, making about one and a half trips from Pusan to Kyongju.

Kyongju is the former capital of the Silla Kingdom. As Kyongju City itself is designated as a world heritage site, the heights of buildings and structures are restricted to protect the view of the scenery, which is often compared with Kyoto. But I personally felt it was more like Nara in light of history as well as the scenery. A short trip by car from the center of the city is the resort area of Bomun Lake Resort. The KSNMT convention site was in Kyongju Educational and Cultural Hall there. The name of the building sounded like a public hall, but it was actually a high-class resort hotel (Fig. 1). Chairman Kim welcomed us at the entrance of the convention hall. With name tags for three of us handed out by Chairman Kim, we were introduced to Dr. Moon Ki-Choon of Bundang Hospital. Dr. Moon has studied in Japan and has fluency in Japanese and he was kind enough to help us a guide. We were shown around inside the convention hall, in which one floor of the hotel was chartered. With the get-together space laid out in the center of the building, two presentation spaces having seating capacities of about 300 people each were located to the right and left and there were some booths displaying medical equipment in front of each of the presentation spaces.

Entering into the hall where the opening ceremony was held, we saw Dr. Nobuyoshi Oya from Kyushu University and Dr. Minoru Tanaka from Fukuoka University. We exchanged greetings and took our seats behind Dr. Oya. Having a talk with Dr. Moon about KSNMT, we learnt that it has about 500 members registered and four local branches. Also, it is subdivided into the IN VIVO session and the IN VITRO session with almost the same number of members in both groups. What we were surprised to hear was that close to 500 persons were participating in the convention on this day. It is incredible that the number of convention participants was almost the same as the number of members. Then, I spotted Dr. Cho Kyu-Chin seated close to us, who was Meeting Chairman of the Technology Session at the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (WFNMB). I greeted Dr. Cho, expressing our appreciation for having been able to participate in the last WFNMB and received from him warm words of welcome.

At the beginning of the opening ceremony, we had an opening address made by Chairman Kim followed by Dr. Lee Myung-Chul, Chairman of the 9th World Congress of Medicine & Biology (WCNMB), who made the closing address at the last Congress. Thereafter, I made my speech. Standing behind the podium, I saw the convention hall filled up to standing room only. I received thunderous applause when I introduced myself in Korean. I wish I could continue speaking Korean, but it was impossible to do so as a matter of fact. I switched my speech halfway to Japanese and then Chairman Kim translated it into Korean for me (Fig. 2).

The convention went into recess. Since the presentations were held with the topics separated into in- vivo and in-vitro, we joined the in-vitro session. It seemed that this presentation was focused on about 10 topics through the process of preliminary abstracts. Although it is not possible to determine the percentage of topics chosen, 10 topics were presented in the in-vitro session and 11 in the vivo-session at this convention. From among them, the most outstanding topics were apparently chosen. In terms of language in the presentations, a few topics were presented in English, rather than Korean. The Society is reportedly recommending making presentations in English for the benefit of globalization. The atmosphere of the presentation session was positive with everyone in the audience listening carefully. None of them were dozing off, as is often seen in Japan.

Upon completion of the presentation, there was an awards ceremony, followed by a get-together. On the wall near the registration desk, as many as five posters in English for the 27th Annual Meeting in Osaka were put on display. It was obvious that KSNMT did it just for us, because we did not prepare them this time around (Thank you very much!).

The get-together was a buffet. We were ushered in to the distinguished guest seats along with Dr. Oya. Following Dr. Kim’s speech, we individually went up to the stage and proceeded to make a toast, after speaking a few words in greeting. I came down from the stage to go back to my seat and then Dr. Moon said, “Please go to the buffet.” As I was hesitating out of the deference particular to Japanese, Dr. Moon urged, “Please go ahead. Unless you (distinguished guests) go first, other people cannot go.” I had to go first. As I was sitting facing the stage, I was unaware that nobody had gone to the buffet yet. When I came back to my seat from the buffet, other participants kept quietly waiting at their seats, until the key officials of KSNMT came back from the buffet. This impressed upon me that South Korea is really a country of Confucism (Fig. 3).

At the get-together, key officials of KSNMT came to welcome us one after the other. Prior to my participation in the WCNMB, Dr. Keisuke Kanao, an honorary member of our Society, suggested that I should meet Dr. Jin Kawang-Ho, but I could not on that occasion. This time around, however, I was able to meet him at long last. Until I met Dr. Jin Kawang-Ho, I was not aware that he was Chairman of KSNMT. I met him when he visited Japan for the first time at the 25th Annual Meeting held in Sendai. He is a member of our Society. Now, I was able to put everything together in my mind (also, he is the father of Ms. Jin Jung-Hyun, who came to Japan as an interpreter for the International Exchange Program at the time of the 27th Annual Meeting).

While having nice conversations with the participants, we found ourselves left alone at the table in the convention hall. As is done in Japan, there is no formal closing announcement in the middle of the party. The convention participants seem to have been leaving the get-together in twos and threes, when they finished eating. They had already left the hall and were waiting for us to come out.

The second round of the get-together was held in a large Karaoke bar nearby. Renting the entire shop, the participants enjoyed drinking and carrying on. I sat at the same table as that of the key members. It seems that whisky and water as a drink is not common in South Korea, so they were drinking their whiskey straight. Dr. Oya and Dr. Tanaka left for the hotel after the second round, as they were catching an early morning flight. Meanwhile, Chairman Kim and us went for a third round (again at a different Karaoke bar nearby) and kept drinking. All of us became quite drunk and returned to the hotel. After taking shower, I changed my clothes and went into bed. Turning off the room light, I closed my eyes and suddenly It was morning! What felt like a few seconds in my mind was actually several hours.

When I hurriedly changed my clothes to go down to the hotel lobby, Dr. Moon was already there waiting for me to come down. We were told that today, all of the convention participants would ride on buses to make a Kyongju city tour in a convoy and break up after having fresh raw fish for lunch. About 10 buses were parked in front of the hotel. We rode in the first bus and about a one hour trip took us to the Daubing Coast, where there is a sea mausoleum for King Munmu. The Sea mausoleum was built by King Munmu in the 7th century, who unified the country to protect it from being invaded by Wa-quaq (today's Japan). The King reportedly had his mausoleum built in the sea facing toward Japan and the legend is that he turned into a dragon after his death. Although the story is an ancient legend, the mausoleum in the sea was actually discovered exactly 40 years ago. It is said that he was the only king who had his grave made in the sea. Dr. Cho and Dr. Jin briefed us on a historic tale about this area (Fig. 4).

A restaurant was rented for a raw fish lunch near the coast. While having lunch together, Dr. Cho and Dr. Jin asked us about our schedule for the rest of the day. I responded that after the convention program broke up, we would travel to Seoul by train and make an inspection tour of Inha University Hospital the day after tomorrow. Both Doctors suggested, “Then, would you like to visit Samsung Medical Center (SMC), as we will have our car pick you up at the hotel tomorrow?” SMC is apparently the second largest hospital in South Korea, where Dr. Jin is the chief medical engineer. We accepted his invitation to visit SMC, as we did not have any plans for the following day as an extra day.

While we were being sent by bus to the hotel after lunch, Dr. Moon told us, “Dr. Cho and Dr. Jin are trying to reserve train tickets to Seoul for you by phone. It seems difficult to get tickets, as all the seats of the KTX are taken on Sunday.” We felt relieved to hear that in the back of our minds, because we did not want bother the high-ranking officials of KSNMT with such a chore.

The convention personnel gave us a ride to Kyongju Station from the hotel and we were to make the trip by Saemaeul limited express train to Dongdaegu, where we would change to the KTX bound for Seoul (Fig.5)

There was about two hours until the limited express Saemaeul arrived at Kyongju. We checked our baggage at the train Station and went to the ancient tomb park to see the oldest observatory named Cheomseongdae, which was within a 15 minute walk from the train Station. Cheomseongdae is designated as a national treasure and is well known to the extent that a replica of it has been built in front of the Lotte Hotel in Seoul (Fig. 6).

When we went back to the Station after seeing the old observatory, we were met by Dr. Cho and Dr. Jin, who were standing there with big smiles. They said that they were unable to get KTX tickets of KTX, but they would send us up to Dongdaegu Station, to ensure that we didn’t get on the wrong train after the layover. For that matter, they seemed to have waited for us close to two hours at the Station, while we were away at the nearby park. Feeling guilty and embarrassed, we headed together to the platform of the Station.

The platform of Kyongju reminded us of Hokkaido, with its vast landscape. Although it is a local Station, Kyongju Station and its environs were kept tidy as a tourist spot. After a while, we saw the Saemaeul pulling in. It would be about an hour to Dongdaegu.

At the platform of Dongdaegu Station, we parted from the two doctors and changed to the KTX. The KTX is the South Korean version of the “Shinkansen.” It was launched in 2004 and runs at 300 km/h from Dongdaegu to Seoul in one hour and 40 minutes. It was almost at dusk by the time we arrived at Seoul Station. The present Station was built in 2004 and looked modern and the old Station building has been preserved nearby. The shape of the building surprised us in fact, because it looked like Osaka City Central Public Hall, which was planned for the 27th Annual Meeting. In the meantime, we took a picture of the look-alike building as evidence and took subway to get to the hotel (Fig. 7).

On the following morning, Dr. Jin arranged to pick us up at the hotel as promised. SMC stands on the south side of the Hangang River, along which newly developed high-class residences are lining up. It is about 2 km away from COEX, where the WCNMB was held.

SMC is an incredibly large building. It seems to have about 2,000 beds, but it is not as simple as bunching two hospitals with 1,000 beds together, because it was like a small mountain that had been turned into a hospital. Strolling through inpatients was like a golf course and the smoking area alone was as large as a small park built in an urban district. It has 5,000 staff members. The buildings have shopping malls beneath them, where items from jewelry to brand name products can be bought. The parking lot for outpatients is spacious, like the multistory parking facilities found at large supermarkets. What surprised us next was the parking lot reserved for hospital staff. With the floors separated in several levels underground, there are service stations exclusively for staff, for example and vehicles are fixed while they are working during the day. That may make business sense, because a large number of staff members work there. Currently, a new building is under construction, which will have 9 floors underground and 20 floors above the ground and it is said that it will be the most sophisticated medical facility in South Korea once it is completed. For reference, the largest and best four hospitals in South Korea are said to be in the order of Seoul Asan Hospital, SMC, Seoul National University Hospital and Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital.

We were met by Dr. Jin at the hospital entrance. The Nuclear Medicine Department of SMC has a total of 55 staff members with 6 medical doctors and 16 medical engineers (technicians) for in-vivo and 11 for in-vitro. The department’s medical equipment consists of 4 PET and 2 PET/CT units, as well as 7 gamma cameras.

With few sales channels available for medical equipment and medicines, the equipment in operation is all supplied from Europe and the U.S., including equipment by such manufacturers as Siemens, GE and Philips, while Japanese equipment from manufacturers such as Toshiba or Shimazu seems not to be imported (they were apparently imported in the past).

The 99m Tc medicines are mainly by kit. We saw a large volume of kits stored in the large refrigerators, which may not be seen in Japan. They said that FDG is synthesized with the application of cyclotron.

Upon completion of the facility tour of the nuclear medicine department, we were invited to the office of Dr. Jin, chief medical engineer, with its adjacent secretary room. The bookshelves installed on the walls were entirely filled with specialized books on nuclear medicine. What drew our attention most was the number of past issues of the academic journal of our Society. The hard-covered journals have been in storage over the past 14 years.
Dr. Jin said that he is translating them into Korean for the good of young people, as there are few good books on nuclear medicine available in South Korea. Presently, he said that he is translating the PET manuals that our Society has issued. We were impressed with what he is trying to do, thinking of the future of the organization.

On the following morning, Chairman Kim sent a car to pick us up at the hotel. Inha University Hospital is not stand in Seoul City but in Incheon City, where Incheon International Airport is located. It is about a one hour drive from Seoul City. Inha University originated from Korean Air and the University hospital building has three levels underground and 18 levels above ground and about 1,000 beds. It was an officially-designated hospital when the 2002 FIFA World Cup was held and today it is positioned as the hospital accepting government officials from overseas.

We were met by Chairman Kim at the hospital entrance. Three gamma cameras and one PET/CT were in operation at the nuclear medical facilities of Inha University Hospital. FDG is said to be purchased on a delivery basis.

We had a facility tour not only in the nuclear medicine department, but also in the radiological department. While we were on the facility tour, we happened to see a mammography being taken in the radiological department. Mr. Imoto gave advice to a female technician saying, “The positioning is totally wrong.” He was as tough as ever.

What I felt from my recent trip to South Korea is that KSNMT has been firmly organized in terms of vertical lines as well as horizontal alliances. I believe that the technological level of the nuclear medicine in South Korea stands high to the extent of becoming a good partner with us for international exchanges. Also, their nuclear medicine is independent in hospitals, which makes it possible for them to dedicate themselves to nuclear medicine, because there is no rotation as in Japan. South Korea is an academic career-based society, in which the university graduate rate is as high as 85%, with medical engineers having high educational backgrounds. They also appear to be as motivated as Japan used to be in the past. As pointed out by Dr. Jin, they have problems such as a shortage of specialized books related to nuclear medicine and distribution channels for obtaining medical equipment and medicines are rather limited. I hope that our relationship with them will continue to grow, thereby improving both parties through interchanges from now on.

Lastly, I wish to express my appreciation to Chairman Manabu Fukukita, Director Nagaoka, Director Yokono and JSNMT for giving us this opportunity. I also wish to take this opportunity to express our deep thanks to Chairman Kim, Dr. Cho, Dr. Jin, Dr. Moon and the members of KSNMT for their hospitality.