About 140 South Koreans left for Antarctic from New Zealand over the weekend to complete a second research station in the frozen continent by early next year, company officials said Monday.

The South Koreans will handle exterior and interior work of the research base, named Jang Bogo, in Terra Nova Bay near the Ross Sea on the southeastern tip of the Antarctic, said officials of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co.

Hyundai E&C said it plans to complete the second phase of construction by March. It also said the base, which is being built on a floor size of 4,458 square meters, could accommodate up to 60 people.

The move comes more than two decades after Hyundai E&C built South Korea’s first research base in Antarctic.

South Korea has been running the King Sejong Base, located on King George Island near the northern part of the continent, since 1988 as part of its efforts to conduct scientific research in the continent deemed to hold an abundant amount of natural resources and a key to the global issue of climate change. (Yonhap News)