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Korean navy ships to visit Guam
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Posted on Dec 17 2004
Three South Korean military ships with a crew of about 800 would arrive on Guam for a joint training, the Naval Forces Marianas on Guam disclosed yesterday.
The ships from Republic of Korea’s Navy Cruise Training Force will arrive on Guam tomorrow, Dec. 19. They include the Yangmanchoon (DDH-973), a destroyer; Hwachoen (AOE-59), an ammunition, oil, and equipment ship; and Wonsan (MLS-560), a mine-laying ship.
“I hope that our visit to Guam would improve the cooperative relationship between our countries,” said Rear Adm. Sung-Gyue Oh, commander of the Cruise Training Force, in a media release from the U.S. Navy.
Naval Forces Marianas public affairs manager Coleen R. San Nicolas-Perez said the purpose of the exercise is to train Korean midshipmen and improve international rapport.
Before heading to Guam, the ships visited 10 ports in six different countries, including Russia, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and French Polynesia, since Sept. 22, San Nicolas-Perez said.
“Upon completion of its journey, the crew would have sailed 21,080 miles in 99 days,” San Nicolas-Perez said. She said the ships would depart Guam on Dec. 23.
Earlier this year, South Korean military ships Chungmugong Yi Sun Shin (DDH-975) and Ulchimoonduk (DDH-972) visited Guam after joining the Rim of the Pacific 2004 exercises, considered the largest joint maritime exercises in the world. The ships are destroyers that are capable of carrying helicopters. Both Korean ships carried close to 500 men.
The U.S. Navy joined naval units of allied countries in the RIMPAC exercises, which were participated in by countries such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
