A successful venture CEO, who resigned from a stable job for an adventure, has said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." Applying to Marine Aids to Navigation, it means: "A lighthouse should not just light the water. It needs to fulfill the mission of lighting the seaway in the stormiest night."

Marine Aids to Navigation, which includes lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and GPS, works as “marine traffic lights” that inform ships about their location, obstacles, and navigable ways using lights, shapes, colors, sound, and radio waves.

The Korea Institute of Aids to Navigation (K-AtoN) is a public institute under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, leading technological development, training professional human resources, promoting international cooperation, and operating the National Lighthouse Museum along with marine cultural spaces.

Heading into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the era of maritime autonomous surface ships, K-AtoN is working on modernizing traditional Aids to Navigation and developing smart Aids to Navigation that provide safety information on both the visible and the invisible.

Moreover, we are making efforts to familiarize the general population with marine culture by utilizing the National Lighthouse Museum and other marine cultural spaces and promoting marine tourism in cooperation with local governments using lighthouses as a medium.

K-AtoN does not seek to maintain the status quo, but rather it will boldly move forward to improve marine industry competitiveness and lead the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, autonomous navigation, and the post-pandemic world, where no one has ventured before. Encouragement and support on our way to accomplishing our unprecedented mission will be much appreciated.

President of Korea Institute of Aids to Navigation Park, Gyei-Kark