Korea’s 3rd Aegis destroyer commissioned

The Navy’s third destroyer, equipped with the high-tech Aegis radar and weapons control system, was commissioned Monday, officials said. The ceremony took place at a Navy operations base in Busan.

The 7,600-ton destroyer, the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, is named after a prominent scholar of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), Ryu Seong-ryong (1542-1607). Seoae is Ryu's pen name.

The warship was launched at a shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in March last year, and then handed over to the Navy, after 17 months of test operations, the officials said.

The destroyer will be deployed in the first half of next year, they said.

Korea has built three Aegis destroyers since 2004 under a Navy buildup project, code-named "KDX-III," to bolster defense against North Korea. The first and second ships were commissioned in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

The Aegis system allows a destroyer to collect three-dimensional information for anti-aircraft, anti-ship and anti-submarine operations, Navy officials said.

The 166-meter-long, 21-meter-wide Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong can carry missiles and torpedoes in its vertical launch system.

With 300 crew members, the destroyer can also carry two helicopters and sail at a top speed of 30 knots (55.5k kilometers) per hour, the officials said. Construction of the Aegis ship cost 1.3 trillion won.