Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea presents an opportunity to board South Korea’s first research icebreaker Araon.

The Organizing Committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea announced that it will run Araon experience program which will give visitors an opportunity to get on the Araon on May 6 and 7.

The program will run from 12 to 4 pm on 6th and from 9 am to 2 pm on 7th at a cruise port where the Araon is at anchor. Souvenirs such as 3D puzzles and posters will be provided to children who take part in the program.

The Araon, owned by Korea Polar Research Institute, can operate at a minimum temperature of -30°C and a maximum temperature of 50°C, and has 60 or so state-of-the-art research equipments including ocean research facilities, observation and monitoring devices, sonar detectors and sensors that can identify underwater geological features. In both the Arctic and Antarctic, she can travel at 3 knots (5.6Km per hour) in ice 1m thick.

The Araon experience program presents an opportunity to explore the state-of-the-art technologies along with photos taken during its research in the waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. It will also highlight the significance of research on climate change and the oceans while telling the stories of the Araon’s Antarctic exploration.

Lee Hong-kum, the president of the KPRI, said “It will be a great experience not just for children who want to be a polar scientist but also teenagers and college students to get on the Araon and talk with its crew members who have explored the poles and the equator.”

The Araon will provide the best hands-on experience for students visiting the Yeosu Expo. Going out to the cruise port to visit the Araon will not be counted as re-entry.

Admission tickets for the Yeosu Expo are available at the Yeosu Expo’s official website (www.expo2012.kr ), Interpark (www.interpark.com ), IBK (Industrial Bank of Korea), KJB (the Bank of Kwang Ju), Shinsegae, Emart and train stations. Evening passes priced at 16,000 won went on sale starting from June 1. The Yeosu Expo runs 80 exhibition facilities and stages around 8,000 performances that admission ticket holders can enjoy free of charge on a first-come-first-served basis.

*released on June 2