Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is a partner institute of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) consortium, which includes other institutes from USA, Australia, and Brazil. The GMT consortium is constructing an extremely large telescope and the Korean GMT (K-GMT) is a Korean project aimed at participating in the construction of GMT, development of state-of-art instruments, and preparation of GMT sciences.

The GMT is one of the world largest optical/infrared telescopes with a 25.4 m aperture, consisting of seven 8.4 m segmented primary mirrors. It will be operational from 2020 at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, one of the best places for astronomical observations on our planet.