Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

It is my honor to welcome you to the opening of CosPA 2015, the 12th Asia-Pacific symposium on cosmology and particle astrophysics. As the IBS president, I am especially excited to see 3 IBS Centers work together to organize this excellent symposium.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Director Kiwoon Choi of the Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Professor Sangpyo Kim of Kunsan National University, and Dr. Pauchy Hwang, president of APCosPA for making this symposium possible.
Let me also thank Director Yannis Semertzidis of the Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research and Director Yeong Duk Kimof the Center for Underground Physics for serving on the organizing committee for CosPA 2015.

CosPa has been held in Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan and Hawaii of the United States to bring together theorists, experimentalists and observers in the fields of cosmology and particle astrophysics, and discuss the latest research trends and outcomes.

I am particularly pleased that we host CosPA 2015 with the recent exciting news from the field of particle astrophysics: the discovery of neutrino oscillation, which shows that neutrino particles have mass, has won this year’s Nobel prize in Physics.
This Nobel prize is a clear recognition of the importance of particle astrophysics to deepening our understanding of how the world works. It is also a testament to the incredible experiments that made these discoveries, and the remarkable scientists.

The 3 IBS Centers, which have put together this excellent academic forum, also conduct research to understand the fundamental principles of nature and the origin of the universe, the most profound and enduring questions that we have always wanted answered.
I would like to applaud their unraveling commitments to unlocking the innermost secrets to the world even with no guarantee of success. This is what IBS stands for and what we will plan to achieve in the future.

The ideas and insights we gain from CosPA 2015 will bring us one step closer to the intriguing and yet-unappreciated world that many scientists are hard at work and there is still more to be learned.
It is my sincere hope that CosPA 2015 serves as a place for active discussions and information exchanges in the fields of cosmology and particle astrophysics. In particular, I believe that the public lecture, “Physics of Interstellar” will be a good opportunity for the public to get familiar with astrophysics and theoretical physics, subjects which are always seemed impossible to understand.

Thank you.