Information on the Progress of the Renovation of the King Sejong Korean Antarctic Station on King George Island, South Shetland Islands

Abstract

The King Sejong Station, operated by the Republic of Korea, was constructed in 1988 on the Barton Peninsula, King George Island, off the South Shetland Islands. Most of the research and summer accommodation facilities had been used for almost 30 years and were in need of repair and reconstruction. Renovations were required to not only address safety concerns of the outworn facilities, but also to further elevate the quality of research support. The construction activities planned for 2016/17 season started in November 2016 and will finish on 9 April 2017. The removal of the old facilities and the replacement of the fuel tanks are now completed. The new two-story building containing research facilities and summer accommodation has almost been completed, except for some parts of electrical and interior works. The overall construction process will be 86% accomplished by the time when the construction personnel will be evacuated. All activities including cleaning up the site will be completed by December 2017. In order to minimize the environmental impact, mitigation measures were carried out throughout the entire period, in compliance with the Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE) document for the renovation activities which had been endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea in September 2016.