[INTERVIEW] At the South Pole, it is not as cold as we might think

Dr. Kim Yea-dong, pioneer of Korea's polar research, speaks to The Korea Times from Jang Bogo Station at the South Pole about his 25th trip there during a telephone interview last Friday. He says the weather there now is not as cold as people think. Courtesy of Kim Yea-dong

By Oh Young-jin

"Is it cold over there?" was the first question I asked Dr. Kim Yae-dong, Korea's pioneer for polar research, who is on a mission at Korea's permanent Jang Bogo Station in Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica Friday.

As I asked the question, I felt silly because the South Pole should be cold, but Dr. Kim's answer justified my question, although the wrong way. "It is above minus seven degrees Celsius," Kim answered.

When I was thinking that it was climate change-related, Kim said, "It is summer down here."

Mom and pup seals. Courtesy of Kim Yea-dong

As our conversation went on, penguins was still not top priority in my line of questioning because the quality of his voice coming from my mobile phone was so clear and noiseless that I felt as if he was next door.

"KT set up a satellite three years ago," Kim explained, assuring me that I could call him on his mobile, but when he was inside the base, adding that he would soon go on an experimental expedition to areas more than 2,000 meters above sea level.

Despite the fame of Pengsoo the giant penguin and recent hit TV character, the two-footed animal did not come out as a topic for the interview. The Pengsoo is a two-meter tall giant penguin (there is no such penguin of that name and I see some similarity between him and Big Bird from the Sesame Street).

"In winter, it would go down to minus 40C or below," he said. "Considering the wind chill effect, I think how cold you may think it is over here wouldn't be wide of mark."

Researchers inspect ice. Courtesy of Kim Yea-dong

"Now, we only have days," he said, adding that people in this environment tended to lose track of time. When I was about to feel depressed about the world being all light but no darkness and asking myself whether it is good or bad, "We have four nonstop months of night," he said. During that period, nobody could visit or leave the South Pole, he said. Asked whether ski planes could do it, he said, "No." Those planes have a short flying distance and there is no permanent landing strip for regular planes. And there is little use of snow mobiles for trips to other bases because they are away at least hundreds of kilometers away, so helicopters are the key means of transport.

It was not hard to feel you were talking to an expert during an interview. The polar scientist led the construction of the base in 2014 with the equipment and materials transported from outside, while being responsible for the opening of the state-run Korea Polar Research Institute in 2004. He served as first KOPRI president ― having spent a total of seven to eight years at the South Pole with the current visit being his 25th. They included two-year and one-year tours. His combined time there qualifies him to say that he has "lived" on a region where there are no permanent residents. And he was the first Korean to visit the South Pole when he went there as a member of a U.S. expedition while studying for his doctorate at Louisiana State University.

He said that during the November-February summer, the base was "crowded" with up to 80 visiting scholars and people from outside. Then, in winter the population fell to a skeleton crew of six researchers and 10 staff such as cook and electrician among them. So what do they do after work? Kim said that he has seen some people studying for a state qualification exam, some writing books and others exercising. "The more preparations you make, the better result you will get," he said.

During our first years, it came close to a life and death situation due to shortages of daily necessities despite all preparatory work, Kim remembered. "We could have starved to death because a lot of food had gone bad and we ended up short in many things," he said. "We borrowed from Hyundai Construction and Engineering, which built the base."

He takes pride in Korea being among the top 10 power nations in terms of research activity in Antarctica 30 years after Korea started its South Pole expedition.

I asked Dr. what the main goal of polar research was ― natural resources or land grabs? "It is about climate change," he answered. "The world's sea level would go up by 70 meters if snow at the South Pole melts."

I felt so somber that I forgot to ask about penguins and Pengsoo and said goodbye to him. I know that it will not be the end of our conversation because there are still lots of questions to ask about the world of ice.