South Korea's New Merchant Marine Academy

The expansion of South Korea's merchant marine fleet is essential to the development of that country's commerce. The departure of the Japanese left the Republic with few ships and few trained mariners. A Merchant Marine Academy exists, but cannot provide satisfactory training. The United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) has undertaken, as a $350,000 project, to build and equip an 18-building Academy at Yong-do, near Pusan, and has provided a Marine Science officer to supervise the construction and commence classes. As of December 1954, the buildings were nearing completion, weekly classes were being held at the old Academy, and textbooks had arrived. Here is a typical photograph of the work now going on the Academy's site. The building under construction, at right, will become the Academy's warehouse. The workers in the foreground are mixing mortar. [No exact date]