Life Technologies, a leading U.S. biotech firm, said that it sees Korea as an important growing market.

It opened its new office on Tuesday in Gangnam, southern Seoul, by merging its distributors LSK and KDR Biotech in one central location.

“We see the Asia-Pacific region and specifically Korea as a very important growing market. Korea has a stable government which is very much focused on developing biotechnology and biology,” said Joydeep Goswami, Life Technologies president for the Asia-Pacific and Japan.

Currently, the Asia-Pacific region makes up 24 percent of the company’s total revenue with Japan being the largest market. However, the Korean market continues to see strong growth while the Japanese market is maturing, the company said.

“We are increasing our presence here by heavily and directly investing in resources for Korean customers in terms of technical support and field-based application,” Goswami said.

The company says its clients in Korea vary from biotech companies and food safety agencies to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. Its main areas are translational medicine that brings basic research into practical use, regenerative medicine like stem cells, as well as forensic and animal safety.

The firm has operated in Korea since the early 1990s under two companies: Applied Biosystems and Invitrogen. Following a merger, Life Technologies Korea was officially established in 2012 to provide services in the fields of life sciences, bioengineering and medical science.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)