South Korean navy on goodwill visit

By URSULA-JANE BOGGUPNG journalism student
SOUTH Korea Navy’s 2012 Cruise Training Task Group made its fourth visit to Papua New Guinea, arriving in Port Moresby last Friday.The two-day goodwill visit was to enhance friendship and establish an opportunity to promote mutual understanding between the two countries.
Admiral Park Moon-young said the South Korean Navy Cruise Training Task Group had come to “spread its universal humanity messages of harmony and the desire to become close friends with you despite our short stay”.The two South Korean Navy ships; Chungmugong Yi Sun Shin, with a displacement of 5,500 tonnes captained by Song Seung-hee is 149.5m long and 17.4m wide, while the state-of-the-art technology and logistics support ship Dae Cheong, with a displacement of 9,170 tonnes is captained by Kang Seok-bong and is 133.67m long and 18m wide.
Both ships have on board more than 620 servicemen, of which 133 are midshipmen from the South Korea naval academy’s 67th class.Their visit is en route to 11 ports in Russia, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, PNG and China.
Park said: “We plan to visit main figures, donate books to the South Korean community and deliver friendship gifts from the Korean Red Cross and scholarship to the Caritas Girls’ Technical Secondary School.”
The cruise group left for China yesterday.