I stood at KORMARIN again, after two years.
The excitement and tension I felt the first time
had quietly settled into a calm confidence.
The industry continues to move fast.
People, technology, interests, and time—
all shifting and reshaping within its current.
And somewhere along the way,
I, too, have been changing with it.
I think I finally recognized that this time.
There was a faint scent of the sea in the exhibition hall,
familiar faces and brief greetings exchanged,
the subtle warmth of the field I hadn’t felt in a while—
and for a moment, the thought came to me:
“I’ve walked this path well, after all.”
This KORMARIN was not just another exhibition.
It was a quiet voyage back through my own journey.
The event comes every two years.
Some years I came because I wanted to,
and some years because I had to—
carrying a tired heart with me.
But this year was different.
My mind felt steadier,
my view less shaken,
and the direction ahead already clearer.
There is no need to rush.
The certainty is already within me.
#KORMARIN2025
What I Saw at KORMARIN 2025
KORMARIN — Korea International Maritime & Ocean Business Convention — is one of Asia's most significant maritime industry exhibitions, held biennially in Busan. It brings together shipyards, classification societies, equipment manufacturers, shipowners, and increasingly, cybersecurity specialists under one roof.
Two years ago, when I attended KORMARIN 2023, maritime cybersecurity was still something of a side conversation — a booth tucked in a corner, a session that half the audience skipped. This year was different. The language of IACS UR E26 and E27 was everywhere. Shipowners were asking about type approval. Shipyards were negotiating cyber delivery documentation. The compliance calendar is no longer abstract — vessels contracted after 1 January 2024 are under live obligation.
What struck me most was not the booths or the keynotes. It was the conversations in the corridors — the ship superintendents who now carry printed copies of UR E26 annexes, the engineers who are genuinely trying to understand what "cyber resilience" means for the equipment they install. The awareness has reached the people who actually build and operate ships.
That's the shift I came here to see. And I finally did.
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