Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Antarctica to adopt 10 more Korean geographical names
By Kim Rahn
More hints of Korea may soon dot the Antarctica through 10 geographical features named after Korean ones such as Insubong (Insu Hill).
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Tuesday it has applied for the registration of 10 Korean geographical names to the Standing Committee on Antarctic Geographic Information on Monday.
If the registration is confirmed, a total of 27 Korean names will be listed in the Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica _ last year 17 were listed.
“Korean geographical names were used as they look like geographical features in Korea,” a ministry official said.
Insubong is the name of a peak on Mt. Bukhan in Seoul, and Korean researchers at the King Sejong research base in the Antarctica have called a hill on the Weaver Peninsula near the base Insubong as the shape was similar to that of the Korean peak.
Auraji Valley got the name because two narrow valleys are merged into a beach and it resembles the configuration of Auraji in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, where two streams converge.
Some other names include Seseok Flat on the Barton Peninsula named after Seseok-pyeongjeon, a flat land at high altitude on Korea’s Mt. Jiri; Mirinae Glacier located between the Barton and Weaver peninsulas which has various colors, with Mirinae being the Korean word for the Milky Way; and Ulsanbawi Peak on Weaver named after the Ulsanbawi rock on Mt. Seorak, Gangwon Province, for the similar shape of the ridge.
Listed in the gazetteer are about 37,000 names applied by 23 countries. Most of them are from advanced nations which began Antarctic exploration first. Names from eight countries take up 93 percent of the total, including 13,151 by the United States and 4,897 by Britain.
“We didn’t apply for a Korean name until 2010 as Korea began research on the continent at a later date with the opening of the Sejong base in 1988, and started full-scale geographic information collection in 2009,” the official said.
“We expect the registration to showcase Korea’s activities on the Antarctic Continent and facilitate future research there. Along with the establishment of the second base Jangbogo in 2014, we also plan to expand the naming to wider parts of the continent from the current area surrounding the Sejong base on King George Island,” he said.
The ministry is also considering setting up a separate body in charge of Antarctic geographic naming as have the U.S. and Britain.