Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Navy officer helping Antarctic research
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Senior Chief Petty Officer Lee Ki-young of the Navy’s Ship Salvage Unit (SSU) / Courtesy of the Navy
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
One of the military’s missions is to protect citizens overseas and this even reaches out to the Antarctic, with a noncommissioned Navy officer helping researchers studying there.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Lee Ki-young of the Navy’s Ship Salvage Unit (SSU) helps researchers and transports supplies for the King Sejong Station as the only Korean military person there. King Sejong is the nation’s first Antarctic research base and is located on King George Island, some 17,240 kilometers from Seoul.
Since 2009, the Navy has sent a member of the underwater demolition team (UDT) or the SSU to the research station every year and Lee, 39, was selected for the mission in November last year.
The transportation of supplies is an especially tough mission for Lee due to the weather conditions.
The island has sub-zero temperatures all year, which prevents the building of a concrete dock, so rubber boats are the only tools to carry supplies.
However, their use is only possible in the Antarctic summer from November to February, when coastal waters do not freeze. Even during this period, Lee faces problems with floating ice and high waves.
This means he needs to take advantage of the few good days and sometimes only gets to two to three hours sleep.
During winter, with snow storms and a bone-chilling temperature of 20 degrees below zero, Lee has to patrol around the research station several times a day.
“Although I have no day off and cannot see my family, I have fulfilled my job, keeping it in mind that I am the nation’s sole military man here to protect the safety and lives of the researchers,” Lee said.
Lee joined the Navy in 1995 and has participated in high-profile rescue missions, including refloating the naval ship Cheonan that was sunk by a North Korean torpedo in 2010, and searching for the missing from the Sewol ferry disaster last year.
Lee is scheduled to return home in December.