Blue Water Navy for Korea

President Kim Dae-jung said Monday that the Korean navy will soon have a "strategic mobile fleet," which will defend the nation's national interests and contribute to world peace.

Mr. Kim, speaking at the 55th commencement ceremony of the Korean Naval Academy in Chinhae, South Kyongsang province, stressed creating an environment in which the navy can expand.

He said the navy plans to put into service an advanced destroyer and three next-generation submarines by 2008.

Defense ministry officials said that the strategic fleet, including the destroyer, a 7,000-ton Aegis-class vessel; the submarines, anti-submarine aircraft and an aircraft carrier, will defend Korea's shipping lanes as well as contribute to international peacekeeping operations.

"It means that the Korean navy, which has limited its role to the Korean Peninsula, will assume an international role," a defense ministry official said.

The fleet will be able to carry out multilateral operations on the high seas for several months without taking on additional provisions.

Addressing issues between the two Koreas, Mr. Kim said that reconciliation on the peninsula is linked to North Korea's relations with the United States.

"Without improvements in relations between Pyongyang and Washington, inter-Korean relations cannot improve," the president said. "And bilateral relations between Pyongyang and Washington cannot proceed independently without improvement in relations between the two Koreas."

by Kim Jin-kook