The KDX-III destroyer, which is 166 meters long and has a displacement of 7,600 tons, was built at the Ulsan dockyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. at a cost of 1 trillion won (US$1 billion).

Named King Sejong after the Joseon Dynasty monarch who helped create the Korean alphabet in the 15th century, the warship is the most powerful in the Navy.

"This is a valuable achievement of our national defense science and technology combined with our shipbuilding skills, and a splendid demonstration of our self-defense capabilities," President Roh Moo-hyun said speaking during the launching ceremony.

"It will help build up the power of our Navy as the world's top-class warship with the most advanced defense system and striking power."

Also attending the ceremony were Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo and Chief of the Naval Operations Admi. Song Young-moo, as well as key officials of the shipbuilder.

South Korea became the fifth country in the world to have the Aegis destroyer following the United States, Japan, Spain and Norway and the third to have the Aegis ship with a displacement of 7,600 tons. The Aegis destroyers in Spain and Norway have a displacement of 4,600 tons each.

The new destroyer is armed with 16 ship-to-ship "Haesung" (sea star) missiles, 128 ship-to-air missiles and 32 ship-to-surface cruise missiles that could give the ship strategic capabilities.

It also has torpedoes and close-in weapons systems to deal with sea-skimming missiles.

The Aegis combat system, build by Lockheed Martin, is a high-tech, integrated weapons control system that makes use of AN/SPY-1D multi-functional phased array radar. It allows the ship successfully combat multiple surface, underwater and aerial targets.

"We expect the King Sejong will greatly improve the Navy's capability to carry out operations," a spokesman for the Navy said, adding that the ship will take a main role in the Navy's future mobile fleet.

The ship's maximum speed is 30 knots with a usual cruising speed of 20 knots.

It will be deployed for naval operations in 2009 after one-and-a-half years of test operations.

  The government plans to commission three Aegis destroyers by 2012 with a total budget of about 3 trillion won.

The spokesman said the name King Sejong was chosen because of the importance of the king in Korean history. Besides supporting the creation of the Korean alphabet, called "Hangeul" in Korean, the king strengthened the country's national defense capability and is highly respected by the people, the official said.
 

The destroyer named King Sejong was built in Ulsan at a cost of about 1 trillion won ($1.07 billion) and will be the country's most advanced ship to counter a possible attack from North Korea, which has hundreds of ballistic missiles.

The ship, with the high-tech Aegis weapons system, can carry 16 ship-to-ship missiles, 128 ship-to-air missiles as well as cruise missiles and torpedoes, the Defense Ministry said.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and several top navy officials, decked out in white dress uniforms, attended the launch at Ulsan on the east coast.

South Korea plans to launch two more Aegis-equipped destroyers by 2013, a ministry official said. The system, first developed for the U.S. military, integrates radar and targeting systems to allow a ship to strike at targets on land, in the air and at sea simultaneously.

The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce and not with a peace treaty.

South Korea's military has said it sees its neighbor, which test-fired a volley of missiles last July and conducted a nuclear test in October, as the main threat to its security.

Seoul has also expressed concern about the military build-up of neighbors Japan and China.

The United States and Japan are studying a joint missile Defense system with Australia to counter growing threats in the Asia-Pacific region, a Japanese government source said earlier this week in Tokyo.  ($1=932.5 Won)
 

The Ministry of Science and Technology said the plan calls for spending a total of 3.8 trillion won (US$4.1 billion) in the next 10 years to build satellites and rockets without outside help and train and hire 3,600 specialists in the space technology field.

"Why not Jeju Island?" South Korean defense officials ask in response to claims that their planned naval base on the country's southern resort island would tarnish Jeju's image as a peaceful and tourist-friendly spot.

Navy officials say that Jeju, a province about 90 kilometers south of Busan, South Korea's southernmost port, carries a huge strategic value for the country. Its location is ideal for naval presence for protection of one of the sea lanes vital for South Korea's export-dependent economy, they stress.

The Navy's project to drop anchor in the southern waters off the island had been adrift for more than a decade until the Jeju authorities decided earlier this week to accept it after conducting a survey. In the poll of 1,500 local residents, 54.3 percent supported the plan, while 38.2 percent were against it.

The facilities to be constructed by 2014 at the cost of 800 billion won (US$850 million) will provide berths for more than 20 warships and submarines, according to the Navy.

The South Korean Navy ranks 13th in the world in terms of size. Its mantra is "Let's become a blue-water navy."

Navy officials say that the Navy will move a step closer to reaching its ambition with the strategically important Jeju base.

"It will help better protect South Korea's sea traffic and counterbalance the naval postures of neighboring countries," Commander Yoo Young-sik, a Navy spokesman said.

He pointed out that 99.7 percent of South Korea's exports and imports are transported by ship and most pass through the southern waters off Jeju by way of the Malacca Straits.

"Almost all oil and raw materials are imported by water. The national economy would be paralyzed if the sea is blockaded for more than 15 days," Yoo added.

The planned Jeju base, which would be the nation's seventh naval port, would also enable South Korea to respond more quickly to high-seas stand-offs with China and Japan.

Claimed by both South Korea and China, Leo Island, a reef-islet southwest of Jeju, is a potential flashpoint. South Korea is also locked in a dispute with Japan over their exclusive economic zones in the waters between them.

The Navy says right now it takes 21 hours for the Busan fleet to get to Leo Island, while Chinese naval ships from Shanghai can get there in 14 hours. But a Jeju base would shorten the time for South Korean ships the reach the islet to eight hours.

The Jeju base is also expected to benefit local residents, bringing in defense money and creating jobs to help revive the economy of the backward region, which is heavily dependent on tourism, oranges and some tropical products. A free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States is expected to deal a blow to the island's agriculture.

The Defense Ministry has promised to invest an additional 70 billion won to develop areas near the base.

"We can't stress the need for a Jeju base too much," Yoo said.

But critics say that the need for a naval base on Jeju Island is overblown.

They argue it will be used as an advance base for the U.S. Navy as part of Washington's drive to make its armed forces more nimble to deal with various conflicts worldwide including a possible clash between China and Taiwan.

"The government is pushing for the construction of the Jeju base, citing uncertain security threats and ambiguous economic benefits. But one is certain. It will force South Korea to get involved in the U.S. activities aimed at maintaining its naval supremacy," said Lee Joon-kyu, chief policy coordinator at the Civil Network for a Peaceful Korea.

"Jeju Island will be like Japan's Yokoska, which has become a home port for various U.S. warships including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines," he added.

In the end, Jeju will become the island of weaponry, not of peace, Lee said.

North Korea echoes the claim, calling Seoul's plan a "dangerous move to carry out the U.S. strategy to invade the North."

In a recent statement, the North's organization handling inter-Korean affairs lashed out at the plan, saying it is a prelude to the South providing assistance for the U.S. missile defense system that puts regional security in peril.
 

"We believe the alleged firings were part of the North's annual routine drills, made on the eastern and western coasts in the past," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. But it didn't specify how many or what kind of missiles North Korea fired.

Japan's Kyodo News and other media reported earlier that North Korea fired several short-range missiles toward the East Sea on Friday morning, citing unnamed sources close to Japan-U.S. relations.

The missiles -- thought to be a modified version of the surface-to-ship Silkworm, or a ballistic missile smaller than the short-range Scud ballistic missile -- were launched from a coastal area in North Korea's South Hamgyong Province, the sources were quoted as saying.

The information is believed to be based on images sent by a U.S. military reconnaissance satellite, Kyodo said.

The firings are believed to have taken place in North Korea's South Hamgyeong Province.

Kyodo also quoted a Japanese government source saying that they "would not pose a threat to Japan-U.S. security."

The Associated Press reported that the missiles were surface-to-ship, adding that Japanese officials were not able to immediately confirm the reports.

Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, reported that the missiles were shorter-range, and were not North Korea's existing Rodong or Taepodong I ballistic missiles. Japan's NTV network reported that the missiles were surface-to-ship types.

Friday's missile launches are not likely related to the North's development of a new missile, according to South Korean officials.

A Seoul military official, wishing to be unidentified, said that South Korean military intelligence officials believe the launches are not related to the firings of any ballistic missiles.

Another military source said that the firings are believed to be part of a routine drill. But he also interpreted the firing as "a scheme to rachet up military tension in response to South Korea's moves to improve its military power."

On Friday, South Korea launched its first Aegis ballistic missile system-equipped destroyer at a shipyard in the southeastern port city of Ulsan, becoming the fifth country in the world to own such a ship..

The KDX-III destroyer, which is 166 meters long and has a displacement of 7,600 tons, was built at the Ulsan shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. at a cost of 1 trillion won (US$1 billion).

The missile launches came before South Korea open the latest round of ministerial talks on Tuesday.

An official from the Unification Ministry, on condition of anonymity, played down the missile firing as unrelated to the upcoming inter-Korean ministerial talks. "They (the missiles) are believed to be short-ranged, another official said, adding that the launches "won't affect the ministerial talks." In July last year, North Korea test-launched seven missiles that landed in the East Sea, the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, despite repeated international warnings not to do so. The missile tests prompted the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution slapping weapons-related sanctions on the North.

The North has said the missile tests are part of its military exercises, saying it has the right to test weapons at its own discretion.
 

Note:

• The North Korea says if the US can remove the 1,000 nuclear weapons around the NK, it will be happy to rid of its nuclear weapons.
   
• The Roh gov. is not totally assured about the usefulness of the Aegis when the inter Korean relationship is going well. The US embassy in Korea is not happy about that, explicitly expressing its frustration on it. There is some gap between the aggressive Korean Defense dept. and the president Roh, South Korea.