Korean Information Service, The Navy on Thursday (June 28) launched an advanced high-speed patrol boat, equipped with guided missiles, to be deployed near the disputed maritime border with North Korea.
The 440-ton vessel, 63 meters long and 9 meters wide, can sail at the maximum speed of 74 km per hour and carry a crew of more than 40 people. It is also loaded with 76-mm and 40-mm guns and cutting-edge radar systems, according to naval officials.
The ship is named “Yoon Young-ha” after a solider killed in a 2002 inter-Korean naval clash near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea. The NLL has served as a de-facto maritime border between the Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Lt. Cdr. Yoon was the head of a Chamsuri boat sunk during a skirmish provoked by the North in the volatile waters in 2002. Six South Korean soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded in the clash, while more than 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured, the Navy said.
In yet another move that may irritate the North, the Navy has appointed as head of the new vessel Lt. Cdr. Ahn Ji-young, a hero of a 1999 inter-Korean sea clash near the NLL. The first-ever inter-Korean sea conflict since the Korean War left at least 30 North Korean soldiers dead and more than 70 others wounded, according to the Navy. Only nine South Korean soldiers were injured, and there were no deaths.
The Yoon Young-ha ship is the first of the Navy's PKX high-speed naval boats that will replace its aging 150-ton Chamsuri model patrol boats.
It will be commissioned within the first half of 2008 after trials of its capability.
Families of the soldiers killed in the 2002 conflict attended the ceremony for launching the ship at a shipyard of the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. in Busan, South Korea's southern port city.
Last week, the North's Navy Command reiterated its warning against a new skirmish, accusing South Korean naval ships of continuing to intrude into the North's territory during crab-catching season.
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