Washington/Seoul, May 11 (IANS) A South Korean naval destroyer will participate in a fleet review and multinational field exercise in the United States over the next two months, the Navy said Monday.
The 4,400-ton ROKS Munmu the Great destroyer will leave a naval base on Jeju Island later in the day to take part in an international fleet review in New York, scheduled for July 3-8, the Navy said in a release.
The warship is among some 100 other naval vessels of around 50 countries participating in the fleet review, including Canada, Britain, Japan and Spain, reports Yonhap news agency.
Ahead of the fleet review, the warship will take part in multinational field training at the end of next month. It will be held on the east coast of Norfolk in Virginia, home to a key US naval base.
The field exercise will be hosted by the US Second Fleet, responsible for operations on the East Coast and in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Joining the training will be about 30 naval vessels from 18 countries, including Brazil, France and Britain.
The Munmu the Great, named after a king of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC-935 AD), will also conduct promotional activities for South Korean naval ships and weapons systems at port calls in Mexico and Colombia.
On its way home, the destroyer plans to make port calls in the Colombian city of Cartagena and San Diego in the US to carry out activities honouring veterans who fought alongside South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.
Meanwhile, the top defence chiefs of South Korea and the United States were set to hold talks in Washington on Monday, focusing on advancing the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from Washington to Seoul and Korea’s push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
–IANS
sd/
