YONHAP NEWS

(LEAD) S. Korea launches latest high-tech submarine

   By Byun Duk-kun
ULSAN, June 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Wednesday launched the third and latest of its 214-class submarines to be commissioned by the end of next year, bringing the total number of submersibles in the country to 12.

   The latest submarine, named "Ahn Jung-geun" after the late independence fighter under Japan's colonial rule of Korea in the early 20th century, was officially launched in a ceremony at the dockyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries in this southeastern city of Ulsan.

   The ceremony was attended by some 100 Hyundai and military officials, including Gen. Kim Tae-young, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Jung Ok-keun.

   "Today we took another step toward transforming our military into a strong, advanced force with the launch of the 214-class submarine, the Ahn Jung-geun," the JCS chairman said in his congratulatory remarks at the ceremony.

   Kim also noted the new submarine will help boost the country's self-defense capabilities amid the scheduled transfer of wartime operational control, often called OPCON, of South Korean troops from Washington back to Seoul in 2012.

   "The country is steadily working to establish a new alliance (with the United States) with regard to the OPCON transfer while also striving to expand our self-defense capabilities that will meet the requirements of future warfare," Kim said.

   "We must be prepared and fully ready to immediately respond to any types of provocation at any time by the enemy and to defeat the enemy at the very site," he added.

   The South Korean Navy is currently far outnumbered by the naval forces of its closest neighbor and main adversary, North Korea, which is said to have some 430 naval vessels, including nearly 70 submersibles.

   The new 1,800-ton submarine will be commissioned and deployed late next year while two other 214-class submarines that were launched in 2006 and 2007 are expected to be deployed later this year, Navy officials said.

   "Our 214-class submarines are the latest of their kind with no match among existing diesel submarines," the Navy said. "They will operate as the main axis of our future maritime force in succession to 209-class submarines."
Seoul plans to purchase six additional 214-class submarines in the next 10 years to counterbalance its numerical inferiority, according to Navy officials.

   "It will be nearly impossible to ever match the North's naval capabilities in numbers, but the 214-class submarines will meet our needs to counter any possible provocations from the North," a Navy official said, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

   Unlike the country's 209-class submarines, or any of North Korea's, the new 214-class submarine is equipped with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system that significantly adds to the ship's stealth capabilities, allowing it to strike enemy vessels or submarines without even being noticed, according to the officials.

   The new submarine will be nearly unbeatable by the North's aging navy when aided by the country's Aegis destroyers, which are capable of simultaneously detecting over 1,000 surface, underwater and aerial targets within a 500-kilometer radius and destroying targets within 150 kilometers, they said.

   South Korea launched its first Aegis destroyer, Sejong the Great, last year, becoming the fifth nation in the world to possess the high-tech naval ship.

   The country is to build two more Aegis ships by 2012 under an existing project, and plans to build three additional Aegis destroyers and three 3,000-ton submarines in the future, according to Navy officials.

   South Korea and the North technically remain at war since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, as the fratricidal war ended only with a cease-fire, not a peace agreement.

   Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed here as a legacy of the Korean War.

   bdk@yna.co.kr
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