Mail Drones

[Anchor Lead]

Mailmen often take on challenging terrain and even the seas to make deliveries to remote areas deep in the mountains or to small islands. It appears this could change in the future as drones may well be doing the hard work for them.

[Pkg]

At this seaside dock a drone carrying mail weighing 8 kilograms rises 60 meters into the air. It then flies 4 kilometers toward residents on Deukryang-do Island. The drone crossed the sea in 8 minutes and landed on a field in an island village. Locals welcome the mail delivery with a thunderous applause.

[Soundbite] Lee Gyeong-wan(Deukryang-do Island Resident) : "This is no dream. It's real. I'm so happy and thankful."

Without human assistance, the drone made its way to the destination using GPS coordinates and marked the country's very first mail delivery via drone. This eases the hard work of postmen who had to take a ferry and reach land the next day.

[Soundbite] Jang In-gil(Mailman) : "When a high seas watch is issued, the boat doesn't sail and mail can't be delivered. The drone will work fine in those cases."

With current technology, the drone can carry up to 10 kilograms and make a round trip of 20 kilometers.

[Soundbite] Gang Seong-joo(Korea Post) : "We'll be more technologically advanced next year."

The drone mail delivery will operate on a trial basis at ten island or mountainous locations for the time beingwith its commercialization expected by 2022.