Korea Maritime Institute is based on the government funded research institutions and other related laws.

The main research areas are marine, fisheries and maritime, logistics, harbor policy research and consulting, domestic and foreign policy research, shipping, harbor international logistics and composite transport research. The school is also through seminars and discussions and other platforms to exchange views and share information with the marine industry, academia and government. In addition to the above research and development projects,it also provides marine education courses to the people through the operation of "marine institute"in  2009 and established the "FTA support center" in 2012 to increase support for marine industry.