By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A 300-strong contingent of the South Korean Navy's Cheonghae anti-piracy unit will depart for the Somalia littorals Thursday to replace the first group, the Navy said Wednesday.
A farewell ceremony officiated by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jung Ok-keun will take place at a port in Jinhae, some 410 kilometers south of Seoul, the service said in a news release.
The unit has been deployed in the piracy-ridden African region since March.
The second contingent consists of the 4,500-ton Daejoyoung KDX-II destroyer, an anti-submarine Lynx helicopter and a group of 30 UDT/SEAL forces, it said.
The new contingent is scheduled to arrive in the Gulf of Aden in mid-August and replace the first contingent led by the KDX-II Munmu the Great, according to the release.
Since its deployment in the troubled waters, the South Korean unit has successfully escorted 117 Korean and foreign vessels passing near the Somali coast, it said. In addition, the unit's Lynx helicopter carrying sharpshooters defended six foreign vessels ― including a North Korean cargo ship ― from pirate attacks.
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. Each year, about 20,000 ships sail throughout the Gulf of Aden headed for the Suez Canal, an important shipping route for international trade that links Europe to the Middle East and Asia.
The International Maritime Organization counted 111 attacks in 2008 in waters near Somalia, the most notorious location for such activity.
The KDX-II destroyer is equipped with an Mk. 45 127mm gun, 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 torpedoes. Built in 2003, the 150-meter-long, 17-meter-wide ship has a top speed of 29 knots.