Text Fwd: Navy Unveils 2 Guided-Missile Patrol Vessels

Korea Times
09-23-2009 20:36
Navy Unveils 2 Guided-Missile Patrol Vessels
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The Navy unveiled two more high-speed guided-missile patrol boats Wednesday to guard the tense western sea border with North Korea, naming them after soldiers killed in a 2002 naval clash with the communist state.

The Han Sang Guk and the Jo Cheon Hyeong were unveiled in a ceremony in the port city of Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, a Navy spokesman said.

The ships, equipped with anti-ship guided missiles with a range of up to 140km, are upgrades from the first ``Patrol Killer Guided'' (PKG) boat, the Yun Yeong Ha, which South Korea deployed along the West Sea border in June amid simmering tension with North Korea.

The Northern Limit Line (NLL) — which has served as a de facto maritime border between the two Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War — was the scene of two deadly clashes, in 1999 and 2002.

In the first battle, South Korea suffered no casualties, while North Korea supposedly lost dozens of soldiers. In the 2002 clash, six South Korean soldiers died, including Han Sang-guk and Cho Cheon-hyeong.

Yun was a lieutenant commander who died while skippering the picket boat that sank after being attacked by the North Korean Navy in 2002. Han and Jo were his men.

North Korea has rekindled the tension along the NLL this year as inter-Korean relations deteriorated, threatening the safety of foreign vessels and insisting the NLL be redrawn.

The latest patrol boats will be deployed as early as September next year after undergoing a series of performance tests and readjustments, the Navy said.

The ships can sail at a maximum speed of 74km per hour while carrying 40 crewmen. They each weigh 400 tons and are coated with limited stealth technology and bullet-proof material, the Navy said.

The Navy said it plans to build more PKG ships in the coming years and name them after the other soldiers who died in the 2002 battle.

South and North Korea remain technically at war after the Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr