Cheonanham Operations Officer Returns as New Cheonanham Commander

Appointment Next Week After Last Year-End Position Review

Lieutenant Colonel Park Yeon-su, who served as the operations officer on the Cheonan during the 2010 Cheonan sinking incident, is appointed as the next captain of the new Cheonan. The Navy is known to have judged that since Lt. Col. Park served on the Cheonan, his appointment carries symbolic significance and that he would be better able to carry out the mission.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Navy on the 15th, Lt. Col. Park was selected as the captain of the Cheonan through the Navy Officer Assignment Review Board at the end of last year and will assume command next week.

Choi Won-il, the captain of the Cheonan at the time, posted on Facebook on the day to congratulate Lt. Col. Park on his appointment and recalled the time of the attack. According to former Captain Choi, then-Captain Park, who was a captain at the time, helped all seven bridge duty officers escape outside when the ship was listing at a right angle, and after abandoning the ship, he participated in the search for missing persons. He urged Lt. Col. Park, saying, "Do not forget the tears of our comrades scattered in the West Sea, and firmly protect this country and this sea."

The new Cheonan, which Lt. Col. Park will command, is a 2,800-ton class frigate. It is 122 meters long, 14 meters wide, 35 meters high, and has a top speed of 30 knots (55 km/h). It is equipped with one maritime operation helicopter, a 5-inch naval gun, and anti-ship missiles. The new Cheonan was delivered to the Navy in May this year and commissioned, and after seven months of ship performance verification, operational capability evaluation, and comprehensive combat power assessment, it was operationally deployed to the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command on the 23rd of last month.

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