Image: S. Korea Ocean Ministries – eLoran service areas
What’s new: South Korea greatly enhancing its maritime capability, supported by recent assured PNT upgrades.
Why it’s important: Maritime (trade, fisheries, defense) is important to every nation, especially one like S. Korea that has hostile neighbors on three sides. And it is important to have a solid PNT architecture upon which to base plans and operations.
What else to know:
- South Korea leads the free world in resilient PNT. They use GPS/GNSS, have built the Korean Augmentation Satellite System (KASS) and are reportedly exploring a TV-timing system. They have also have upgraded their Loran-C to eLoran and increased its service area.
- Their eLoran can operate cooperatively with China’s and Russia’s (called Chayka) or independently.
- S. Korea’s eLoran upgrade was targeted for maritime but can help all PNT users.
- We found the mention of Arctic shipping interesting. S. Korea could clearly benefit, and the northern sea route above Russia is becoming more navigable for longer periods. Russia’s GLNOASS, performs better at high latitudes than GPS.
South Korea unveils five-year agenda for Arctic shipping, security and fisheries sectors
The South Korean Government, through the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), recently unveiled a new five-year national agenda for the South Korean marine and fisheries sector.
The agenda covers various areas including Arctic shipping, maritime security, and fisheries…
The agenda’s maritime security proposals include: strengthening prevention of and response to maritime disasters; strengthening of monitoring of sovereign waters to curb instances of illegal fishing; enhanced safety management of local fishing vessels; and introduction of an eLoran terrestrial navigation system as a complement to GPS.
