Pulmuone breaks ground on Korea's first land-based seaweed R&D center at Saemangeum

Pulmuone announced Wednesday it has broken ground on South Korea's first land-based seaweed aquaculture R&D center at the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex.

The center is tied to a government-funded project under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries aimed at developing sustainable, high-quality seaweed seed production and land-based aquaculture technology. It will serve as a testbed for demonstrating year-round seaweed production and laying the groundwork for commercialization.

The facility will cover 9,473 square meters — roughly 2,865 pyeong, where 1 pyeong equals 3.3 square meters — and will include aquaculture facilities, seawater intake, drainage and pre-treatment systems, and research and support facilities.

The ground-breaking marks Phase 1 of the project, which will focus on building the core infrastructure needed to operate the testbed. A planned Phase 2 expansion will add more land-based seaweed cultivation units along with warehouse, processing and dedicated R&D buildings.

Through the two phases, Pulmuone aims to complete a one-stop industrialization system covering the entire process from production and processing to retail.

The aquaculture tank-based bioreactor system to be installed in the land-based seaweed cultivation unit will be the largest of its kind in South Korea. The bioreactor precisely controls growing conditions — including temperature, light and nutrients — to enable stable, year-round seaweed production.

Pulmuone also plans to use the R&D center as a hub to refine key processes in land-based seaweed aquaculture and share the resulting commercialization models with local governments and regional fishing communities to accelerate the spread of the technology.

"We will build a sustainable fisheries model grounded in food-tech innovation and develop it into a future seafood industry that leads the global market," said Ahn Deok-jun, head of Pulmuone's food-tech business division.