'Underwater cables can prevent tragic accidents'

Choi Bok-kyoung

By Park Jin-hai

Choi Bok-kyoung, 50, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), who recently test-ran underwater cable off Ulleung Island, says underwater cables can prevent tragic accidents like the Sewol ferry sinking.

“If one studies ultrasonic sounds through the underwater cable, he can learn virtually all the things happening in the ocean,” he said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

Currently used are sensors, dropped from connected buoys, which detect underwater activities. “But, those sensors are prone to damages from the outside, such as passing vessels, currents or hail,” he said.

On the contrary, underwater cables, once installed, are virtually unaffected by outside conditions, providing lots of critical information.

“If we had those cables at the time of Sewol ferry sinking, we wouldn’t have had a hard time tracking the location of the vessel which moved according to the currents,” he added.

Choi, who has a doctorate in physical acoustics at Sungkyunkwan University, is an underwater sound specialist. Since he joined the KIOST in 1997, he has secured patents for an underwater surveillance system using sonic waves.

He works in the maritime security research division under KIOST. Choi added that by shooting out ultrasonic sound from those underwater sensor cables, the government could also police its territorial waters.

“Ultrasonic waves can trace the amount of air bubbles that come from passing vessels. It can be used to detect Chinese vessels that do illegal fishing.”

He said that so many other advanced countries like the United States and European nations are constructing the cables.

The government, too, plans to expand the length of the cables to 10 kilometers near Ulleung Island and the Dokdo islets, and test them for three years from next year.

“Previously, the government announced the blueprint to connect Ulleung and Dokdo with optical fiber and electric cables, investing some 200 billion won from 2017. Since the government is installing them, putting in a massive budget, I believe it would be better to add sensors to them,” he said.

Choi says his final goal is to expand the use of those ultrasonic wave emitting underwater sensors and make the whole territorial water monitoring work in real time.

“I will work my best to establish a scientific monitoring system to keep watch over our territorial waters.”