The 29th Congress of the International Society of Hematology (ISH) opened Saturday at Seoul's Convention and Exhibition Center (COEX). The five-day ISH 2002 conference, under the theme of "grand harmony between medical and pharmaceutical sciences through ISH," will bring in around two thousand hematology doctors and researchers from 100 countries across the world. The participants will report 550 pieces of research thesis and give lectures, while having sessions to exchange a variety of information on blood diseases. South Korea became the third Asian host country of the biennial ISH congress following Japan and Singapore.