South Korea launched a vessel to survey underwater relics on Thursday to enhance its marine archaeology studies on Korea's ancient civilization and its exchange with neighboring countries.

The survey vessel, which was named Seamuse, went into commission for the National Maritime Museum in Mokpo on the country's southwest, the South Korea's Yonhap said.

Seamuse is the first marine archaeological survey ship in Asia, said the maritime museum.

The survey ship will drastically expand the scale of archaeological understanding in Northeast Asia, the museum said.

According to Yonhap, the survey ship is 19 meters long and 4.4 meters wide and can accommodate up to 13 people. It is equipped with exploration systems that can operate in deep waters, such as a side scan sonar system for searching and detecting objects underwater through photographic images made from its sound waves and remote operated vehicles that use remote controlled robots instead of divers.

Seamuse will have its inaugural sail on Nov. 19 on occasion of the 30th anniversary of the discovery of a sunken ancient vessel on the seabed of Sinan off the country's southeast coast.

Source: Xinhua