Signal Korea still pursues a 300-metre civilian submersible while China and Japan run deep-sea operations

Summary

In the underwater domain, the essay reports that China and Japan are already conducting active deep-sea operations using deep-sea submersibles, deep-sea stations and similar assets. Korea, by contrast, is still at the stage of trying to achieve technological self-reliance in a civilian shallow-water submersible rated to about 300 metres. The author treats this as a concrete measure of the gap Korea faces in extreme R&D, naming the underwater domain alongside space and polar research as a typical high-risk field. To narrow it, Korea should pursue competitive technology development through strategic and active cooperation with countries that already hold advanced technology. The comparison is presented as part of a broader argument that international competition and cooperation are one of the foundations extreme R&D needs.