Sailor who survived the sinking of the Cheonan became captain of the ship of the same name

On January 22, Lieutenant Colonel Park Yeon-soo, who served as an operations officer on the Cheonan ship that sank in 2010, was appointed captain of the corvette of the same name, according to Yonhap news agency.

Lieutenant Colonel Park Yeon-soo, new captain of the Cheonan ship

The Cheonan frigate sank in the Yellow Sea in March 2010, killing 46 sailors. South Korea claimed the ship was torpedoed by the DPRK, a claim Pyongyang vehemently denied.

The new warship, FFG-826, is part of the Daegu-class corvette, with a displacement of 2,800 tons. After seven months of testing, the ship was officially commissioned in December 2023 for missions in the Yellow Sea amid rising tensions with North Korea.

The 122-meter-long ship can reach speeds of 55 km/h and is equipped with a helicopter, short-range air-to-air missiles and tactical missiles.

The new Cheonan ship in a drill in early 2024

Mr. Park was appointed in a ceremony on January 22 at the Second Fleet of the Republic of Korea Navy in the city of Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of the capital Seoul.

Speaking about his new role, Mr. Park said he felt the great and sacred responsibility of commanding the ship named Cheonan. The new captain declared that he would protect the safety of the Yellow Sea and the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two Koreas.

"I promise that if the enemy carries out another provocation, I will respond hundreds, thousands of times stronger," Park told the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. "I thought about leaving the navy but I decided to continue my duty to protect the country as a mission entrusted to me by my fellow sailors."

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