For the Chinese, it's resources, which puts them at odds with every other Antarctic country. That's my understanding. I'm not an expert on the Antarctic, by any stretch. My understanding is that most Antarctic countries are interested in freezing territorial claims and in doing science down there—polar science. The Chinese, as I understand it, are alone in their interest in resource exploration and mining, and that raises questions. How far can they push that along and still abide by all the legal instruments down there.
In Korea, the interests relate to meteorites, particularly, but also to general climate science and the lessons that can be learned from that. These are countries that experience climate change. We don't often think of them as experiencing climate change, but they do. The Chinese government is aware that the Gobi Desert advances on Beijing a couple of feet every year, and it's less than 100 kilometres away now.
The Chinese government, in particular, is aware of climate change, and it's aware that it's a problem. It's reluctant to sign up to binding international commitments on emissions and things, because it doesn't think anybody else is going to follow the rules. But that is a government that is concerned about climate change. They lack the capacity to implement a lot of their own legislation, which relates to a centre-periphery disconnect that is as old as China itself. It's from long before the People's Republic. The Chinese government is worried about climate change, as are Japan and South Korea, and that relates a lot to what their polar research agenda is.