Government approves the ‘Cheonghae Unit Dispatch Extension Motion’ at Cabinet meeting, expanding the area of operations·deploying one maritime patrol aircraft - 경향신문

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In May, the destroyer Wang Geon departs during a send-off ceremony for Cheonghae Unit Rotation 48 at the Busan Operational Base in Nam-gu, Busan. Yonhap News

On the 10th, the government approved at a Cabinet meeting a motion to extend the Cheonghae Unit deployment that expands its area of operations and strengthens forces by adding one maritime patrol aircraft, among other measures.

The Ministry of National Defense said the government held a Cabinet meeting that day presided over by President Lee Jae Myung and approved the ‘Revised Motion to Extend the Dispatch of Republic of Korea Units to the Waters off Somalia and the High Seas South of Oman (Cheonghae Unit Dispatch Extension Motion)’. The extension motion will be submitted to the National Assembly.

The extension motion is adopted after review by the National Assembly Defense Committee and approval at a plenary session with a majority of lawmakers present and a majority of those present voting in favor.

The motion includes expanding the Cheonghae Unit area of operations from the existing Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman about 650 km from the Strait of Hormuz.

Accordingly, the government explained that the area of operations would expand to nearly double, reaching the southern end of Duqm Port in Oman. If the Cheonghae Unit mission area had been about 600 nautical miles (about 1100㎞), it would increase to 1,200 nautical miles (2222㎞). The straight-line distance from Duqm Port to the Strait of Hormuz is about 650㎞.

The deployed force will also increase. One maritime patrol aircraft (P-8 Poseidon) will be assigned to the Cheonghae Unit, and an EOD team for mine detection and clearance, along with unmanned mine countermeasure systems such as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), an unmanned surface vehicle (USV), and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), will deploy together.

The existing Cheonghae Unit force consists of one 4,400-ton class destroyer (DDH-Ⅱ) carrying one maritime operations helicopter and up to three high-speed boats, and 320 personnel. The 49th rotation of the Cheonghae Unit, the destroyer Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (DDH-975), departed on the 2nd of last month for a relief.

The additional deployed personnel number 75, and if the extension motion passes the National Assembly within this year, they will be assigned on site from the first half of next year. With the added troops, the Cheonghae Unit total headcount will increase from the current 320 to 395.

This extension motion also newly adds the mission of ‘supporting the restoration of freedom of navigation on international sea lines of communication’. Thus far, the Cheonghae Unit has carried out counter-piracy operations, supporting convoy and safe navigation.

The government maintains that the extension motion is unrelated to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, including the U.S.·Iran war. Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-cheol said at a full session of the National Assembly Defense Committee the previous day, “We have made clear the principle of noninvolvement and noninterference in the war.”