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Korea is celebrating the completion of its second research station in Antarctica, which
makes it part of an elite club. Kim Ji-yeon reports. Korea is preparing for
a new period of polar exploration with the completion of its second research station
in Antarctica. A ceremony was held for the Jang Bo-go Station
on Wednesday at Terra Nova Bay in Northern Victoria Land.
The new base will be able to accommodate up to 60 people, with 16 buildings spread across
a 4-and-a-half-square-kilometer plot of land. The new station will be a homebase for geographic
research, including the study of meteorites and glaciers... and the Korean government
says the work done there can help promote scientific research at home.
"The completion of Jang Bo-go Station is expected to become the basis for various scientific
research in many areas, including climate change and the applied sciences."
Antarctica is known to be brewing with humankind's most important natural resources including
oil, metals and copper. For that reason,... the frozen continent is
being looked at for exploration by many countries. For now, mining and territorial claims are
prohibited on the continent under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, but that will be up for review
in the year 2048... which is why some countries may try to angle for a piece of the Antarctic
pie before then. Korea's first station, the King Sejong, was
built in the western part of the continent in 1988, mainly conducting research on marine
ecosystems. The United States was first to establish a
station on the continent in 2008, and China has four stations in total, with a fifth planned
for next year. Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.