Korea's Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho, right, shakes hands with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), before a meeting at a hotel in Seoul in this photo provided by the ministry, Dec. 16.

South Korea's ICT minister on Friday met with the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss ways to enhance bilateral technology cooperation in the nuclear science sector, the ministry said.

During their meeting at a hotel in Seoul, Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi exchanged views on strategic cooperation in developing small modular reactors and technical collaboration on applied nuclear science, according to the ministry.

They also talked about cooperative ways to restore Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

Lee appreciated the IAEA's support for the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology for Asia and the Pacific, an inter-governmental program to promote and coordinate cooperative scientific activities in the sector.

South Korea hosts the RCA secretariat, which was set up in 2002.

The IAEA chief arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for meetings with President Yoon Suk-yeol and other South Korean officials on issues ranging from North Korea's nuclear program to Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean in the coming spring. (Yonhap)