S. Korea expands Antarctic research station

S. Korea expands Antarctic research station 

source SIAPLAN

edited by kcontents

  South Korea will renovate the King Sejong Station in Antarctica to upgrade its aged facilities and expand its space by early 2018, the Korea Polar Research Institute (KPRI) said Thursday.

The nation's inaugural Antarctic station undergoes renovation for the first time in 28 years after opening on King George Island in the western part of the South Pole.

This photo provided by the Korea Polar Research Institute on Nov. 28, 2016, shows a rendering of the renovated King Sejong Station in Antarctica. (Yonhap) This photo provided by the Korea Polar Research Institute on Nov. 28, 2016, shows a rendering of the renovated King Sejong Station in Antarctica. (Yonhap)

The KPRI said it will install a solar power system and replace the fuel tanks with ones that comply with the latest international standards to make the station "an eco-friendly research institute."

The renovation would increase the station's research space by 80 percent, the institute noted.

The station comprising six buildings and two observatories conducts two major expeditions per year, one in the summer and the other in the winter, for research activities in such areas as geology, biology, meteorology and seismology.

South Korea opened a second research station in the South Pole in 2014, becoming the 10th country to have more than one research station on the frozen continent.

SEJONG, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) ejkim@yna.co.kr

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