‘Korea Maritime Silk Road Expedition 2014,’ Co-organized with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries & Gyeongsangbuk-do Province

The students of the College of Maritime Sciences of KMOU start on a big run of 87 day-expedition to reenact the maritime silk road of Hyecho of the Silla period.

KMOU starts “2014 Maritime Silk Road Expedition” with the departure ceremony at Yeongil Bay Harbor, Pohang at 2 p.m. on September 16 (in collaboration with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Gyeongsangbuk-do Province). The TS Hanbada left the campus dock for Pohang at 4 p.m. the previous day.

Hyecho has been evaluated as the pioneer and first Korean cosmopolitan in exploring the maritime Silk Road. He reached India by sea, and went as far as Persia, and then returned to China through the arduous journey across Central Asia.

This project was designed to remind people of the maritime frontier spirit and to propose vision through the ocean by reenacting Hyecho’s sea route taken about 1,000 years ago.

The 153 expedition members including 91 KMOU students will call 15 major port cities in 14 countries during the journey of 87 days from September 16 to December 10 with the TS Hanbada, which is the largest ship of its kind in Asia.

The expedition team will promote Korean culture as well as cultural exchange at the ports of call, which include Gyeong-ju(Pohang), Guangzhou, Da Nang, Jakarta, Malacca, Mumbai, Muscat, Bandar Abbas, and Colombo, located along Hyecho’s sea route.

This expedition will perform various tasks during the voyage: ▵Re-illumination of history and culture of the maritime silk road ▵ International conference for establishing the global network, ▵ Compilation of the dictionary and the pictorial, ▵ Construction of Hyecho Memorial Monument, ▵ Cultural exchange among nations along the maritime silk road, and ▵ Making a documentary film and publishing pictorial and so on.

President Park Han-Il of KMOU said, “I hope they call to mind the importance of exchange while they are exploring the silk road, where East and West met each other. The expedition will become the basis for blazing a Korean trail on the future ocean. It will be a precious opportunity for the future of maritime talents as well as the development of Korea as a maritime power.”

(Translated by the students taking the course of Translation Theory at the Dept. of English Language and Literature)