Thatcham strengthens ties with Korea

Thatcham’s global reputation was enhanced still further this week as the management board of the UK’s insurer funded automotive research centre welcomed a senior contingent from KIDI, the Korea Insurance Development Institute and put pen to paper on a symbolic Memorandum of Understanding.

KIDI protects the interests of insurance companies, the insured and related organisations in Korea, and through their subsidiary company KART (Korean Automobile Insurance Repair Research & Training Center), are represented with Thatcham amongst the 24 members of RCAR (The Research Council for Automobile Repair) working on a range of international automotive standards and protocols.

Thatcham’s Chief Executive, Peter Roberts and Director of Research, Andrew Miller, welcomed Chae-Woong Jung, Chairman and CEO at KIDI and Sang Don Lee, Senior Manager at KART to the Berkshire research centre for this important occasion. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding cements the previously good relations between the two organisations over recent years and paves the way for the further exchange of information and data on material damage and whiplash, in particular.

Thatcham’s Chief Executive, Peter Roberts, said “Thatcham strongly value their relationship with like minded international organisations like KIDI and their subsidiary KART, and we look forward to working more closely together on a range of global safety, security and vehicle damageability initiatives.”

Andrew Miller commented “We very much welcome the opportunity to forge closer links with our RCAR partners. RCAR is most effective where different global centres work together to develop strong interdependent relationships. This MoU with KART will help both centres to develop strong joint activities which underpin our aims of supporting our insurer members through strong automotive research.”