Recently geological surveys have been actively carried out in foreign countries. In 1990, the Ko- rea Ocean Research and Development Institute, the predecessor of the Korea Institute of Ocean Sciences and Technology, began to pursue a full- scale research on deep ocean mineral resources, and in 1992 began efforts to acquire mining rights for manganese nodules in the deep oceans. In 1994, South Korea became the seventh country in the world to acquire mining rights in the Clarion-Clip-

perton sea sector in the Paci c Ocean. Exploration efforts were expanded to include searches for manganese pavements, submarine hydrothermal deposits, and other deep-sea resources. During 2008 – 2012, South Korea further obtained explo- ration rights for submarine hydrothermal deposits in the EEZ areas of Tonga and Fiji and acquired mining rights for submarine hydrothermal deposits in the open sea within the Indian Ocean. Korea has expanded its research area from the eastern Pacic Ocean and southwestern Paci c Ocean to the Indi- an Ocean.