JAKARTA - South Korea on Tuesday held a ceremony to launch a new type of frigate, named after the warship torpedoed by North Korea in 2010, Cheonan.
The ceremony for the 2,800-ton frigate, Cheonan, took place at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. shipyard. in Ulsan, about 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, South Korea.
About 100 people, including Defense Minister Suh Wook and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Boo Suk-jong, joined the event.
The 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sank near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean sea border in March 2010, after a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo at it, killing 46 crew members.
The opening of the Cheonan carries symbolic meaning for the survivors of the attack and the families left behind, who want to see the new warship named after the ill-fated corvette and tasked with fulfilling its unfinished mission of guarding the maritime frontier.
Choi Won-il, the captain of Cheonan at the time of the sinking, decided not to attend the launch, in protest of the decision to ignore the video on social media, which raised the conspiracy theory behind the cause of the sinking of the ship he was crewing.
Meanwhile, the frigate which has the official name ROKN Daegu-class Frigate FFG-826 Cheonan, is the seventh Daegu-class warship produced as part of South Korea's frigate acquisition program, codenamed FFX Batch-II.
The Navy is seeking to procure eight ships of this class in total, under a program designed to replace its aging fleet of 1,500-ton frigates and 1,000-ton corvettes.
The new ship is equipped with a 20-mm Phalanx melee weapon system, anti-ship and ship-to-ground guided missiles, and underwater missiles, as well as a hull-mounted and towed sonar system.
"This frigate is the newest ship to be equipped with a robust homemade weapon system, and we hope to protect the West Sea by honoring the noble sacrifices of the sailors, inheriting their desire for national defense," an official at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, citing the news agency. Yonhap 9 November.
The Cheonan is expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2023 and enter service the following year, a Navy official said.
Speaking at the event, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook believed that the new ship carried a lot of significance.
"By bringing back Cheonan, South Korea has kept its promise to forever remember the sacrifices made by the heroes," he said, as reported by Arirang.
Earlier, in March President Moon Jae-in announced the decision to christen the new Cheonan frigate during an annual event marking Western Marine Defense Day, commemorating the contribution of Navy sailors to maritime security.
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