S.Korea launches new frigate

Seoul, Nov 9 South Korea on Tuesday launched a new frigate named after a warship torpedoed by North Korea in 2010.

The launch ceremony for the 2,800-tonne frigate, Cheonan, took place at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in Ulsan, some 410 kim southeast of Seoul, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan sank near the Northern Limit Line, a de facto western inter-Korean sea border, in March 2010, after a North Korean midget submarine fired a torpedo at it, killing 46 sailors.

The unveiling of the Cheonan carried a symbolic meaning for the survivors of the attack and bereaved families who have wished to see the new warship named after the ill-fated corvette and commissioned to fulfil its unfinished mission of safeguarding the maritime border.

Some 100 people, including Defence Minister Suh Wook and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Boo Suk-jong, joined the event to transfer the frigate onto the water for the first time.

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"The military will maintain a firm defence posture and continue to support the denuclearization of North Korea and promote lasting peace based on 'robust strength'."

Cheonan is the seventh Daegu-class warship produced as part of South Korea's frigate acquisition program, code-named FFX Batch-II.

The Navy seeks to procure eight vessels in total under the program designed to replace the aging fleet of 1,500-tonne frigates and 1,000-tonne corvettes.

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