Today at 14:00, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST, President Hong Gi-hoon) announced that it will host a launching ceremony for the large ocean research vessel RV Isabu at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The ceremony will be attended by executives and staff of KIOST, namely Vice President Park Kwang-soon, Director Choi Dong-lim of the South Sea Research Institute, and Lee Yong-kuk, head of the Maritime Safety and Security Division, as well as representatives from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.

The Isabu is Korea’s largest ocean research vessel, completed after a construction period of 41 months that began in December 2012. Equipped with state-of-the-art observation equipment, including an incredibly precise device for measuring salinity, temperature, and pressure, a deep-sea video camera, and a multi-beam echo sounder, and furnished with an ICT information transmission system and low-noise, low-vibration navigation equipment, the vessel is expected to serve as a kind of “floating research institute.”

The Isabu can accommodate a total of 60 passengers, including 38 researchers, on ocean expeditions of up to 55 days, and is expected to play a pivotal role in the future industrialization of Korea’s marine and fisheries sectors and marine territory management.

Following extensive testing of its research equipment and systems in the East Sea in July, the Isabu will conduct a deep-sea research performance test in the waters of Micronesia, in the Pacific Ocean, in August. After its commissioning ceremony, which is scheduled for October this year, the research vessel will begin conducting full-scale research and investigation activities.

KIOST President Hong Gi-hoon remarked, “The Isabu is a world-class marine science and technology research platform that has been designed to help develop our capacity to explore the world’s marine resources and respond to changes in the Earth’s environment, which is a colossal task of our time. “Isabu” was the name of a general during the Silla Dynasty who was tasked with the development of Ulleung Island and was a pioneer who believed Korea needed to voyage further out to sea. We hope that the Isabu will come to embody the general’s enterprising and pioneering spirit by exploring the world’s oceans for the good of all humankind.”