Looking Back to Traditional Ships

By Chung Ah-young

Staff Reporter

The nation's competitiveness in shipbuilding has historical roots. To show off the historical significance of vessels in Korean history, the Korean National Maritime Museum at the Culture Heritage Administration will hold a special exhibition, ``Korean Ships and Shipbuilding Tools in Modern Times'' from Nov. 14 to Feb. 1.

The exhibition is designed to demonstrate Korean traditional ships, called ``hanseon,'' and their capabilities and design, by exploring how they disappeared during the tumultuous eras marked by modernization and the Japanese colonial period.

The main theme is divided into Korean modern ships, the structure of ships, shipbuilding tools, changes in modern ships under Japanese colonial period, modern port cities and ships, and modern foreign ships and navigation tools.

Among Korean ships, ``modern ships'' refer to vessels made between 1876 and 1945, including advanced forms influenced by Western styles.

There are the remains of vessels from the Goryeo Kingdom to the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). In particular, Goryeo's vessels helped researchers and historians study the design and structure of the old vessels in detail.

During the Joseon period, ``geobukseon,'' a wooden turtle-shaped vessel, was built, the epitome of the kingdom's regional superiority in shipbuilding.