 The Munmu the Great has been selected as the first warship to combat piracy off Somalia for rotational deployment. / Courtesy of the Navy |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The South Korean Navy is expected to deploy one of its 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers to combat piracy off Somalia as early as later this month, the first-ever overseas combat deployment by the service, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Friday.
The Navy has selected the Munmu the Great as the first warship to be sent to the African region for rotational deployment, the JCS said.
The Cabinet approved a motion last month to send a destroyer to Somali waters, and is awaiting approval by the National Assembly.
Located along the route of a crude-oil pipeline connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and racked by civil war, Somalia's coastline has become infamous for piracy. Reports said more than 1,000 pirates have hijacked vessels from foreign nations and taken more than $30 million in ransom.
South Korean cargo ships have also suffered a series of hijackings in recent years. Eight crewmembers of two Dongwon Fisheries tuna ships were released in 2006 for a ransom of $800,000 after being held hostage for four months by Somali pirates. Two Daechang Fishing boats were hijacked in May last year, and their 25 crewmembers released six months later.
In September last year, pirates kidnapped a cargo vessel carrying eight South Korean and 13 Myanmarese crewmembers, releasing them the following month after the ship's owner paid a ransom.
The KDX-II destroyer is equipped with Harpoon ship-to-surface missiles, RAM Mk 31 ship-to-air guided missiles, a 30mm Goalkeeper system for engaging sea-skimming anti-ship missiles and several torpedoes.
The 150-meter-long, 17-meter-wide ship built in 2003 is able to sail at a top speed of 29 knots and carries two Lynx anti-submarine helicopters. The Navy has six KDX-II destroyers.
Cmdr. Choi Soo-yong at the JCS's operations support bureau said the Navy was ready to dispatch 300 personnel in total and that deployment conditions in Bahrain, where the Korean contingent will be stationed as part of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), were relatively good.
Choi's assessment came after a team of 10 Navy and foreign ministry officials concluded an on-site inspection in Bahrain from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4. A group of officials went there in October last year for a preliminary inspection.
``Conditions at the port of Djibouti in Bahrain and other support situations there were quite good,'' Choi told reporters. ``There will be no problem regarding logistics support because we can use the services of local companies contracted with other navies, such as the United States, Britain and Germany.''
Choi expressed confidence that South Korean sailors could conduct successful operations against the Somali pirates because the Navy is accustomed to combating close-range enemies, such as North Korean warships.
``We train mostly under the assumption that we will fight at close-range because of our proximity to North Korea, so that we've accumulated the expertise to deal with infiltrating boats,'' a Navy official said.
The International Maritime Bureau says piracy on the high seas rose to unprecedented levels in 2008.
It said attacks off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden had risen by nearly 200 percent to 111 in 2008, with pirates succeeding in hijacking 42 vessels and taking 815 crewmembers hostage.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
