[Yonhap Photo]
South Korea's first unnamed spy boat equipped with artificial intelligence, a machine gun and a surveillance camera, has been showcased for its crucial mission to monitor North Korean provocations especially along the disputed Yellow Sea border which has seen sporadic skirmishes.
The unmanned surface vehicle (USV) called "Haegeom" (Sea Sword) demonstrated its ability Thursday at a naval base in the southern port city of Busan at a ceremony hosted by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), a state agency associated with the Defense Ministry.
Under a project that began in December 2015, the eight-meter-long boat, which weighs three tons, was developed to carry out surveillance near the inter-Korean sea border. It would be put to a test run from May to July. Capable of sailing at a maximum speed of 30 knots (54 kilometers) per hour, it can engage in combat, using its machine gun, DAPA said.
Naval officials hope Haegeom will be useful in preventing inter-Korean naval clashes or provocations by North Korean warships. South Korea's coast guard could use it to surveil illegal operations by Chinese fishing boats.
The two Koreas recognize different boundaries dividing their territorial waters in the Yellow Sea. Because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war.
The maritime border has always been a flash point and was the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009. A South Korean warship sank in March 2010. Seoul blamed a North Korean submarine for torpedoing the warship Cheonan. Pyongyang denied its involvement but the incident froze cross-border exchanges and trade. In November the same year, North Korea shelled a front-line island, killing four South Koreans and briefly triggering concerns of a full-scale conflict.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
