South Korea and Peru Agree to Expand Naval Cooperation

September 21, 2012 defpro.com

SEOUL | South Korea and Peru agreed Thursday to expand exchanges and cooperation between their navies, including the South's provision of training necessary for the South American nation to better operate naval vessels expected to be built with Korean technologies, the Korean Navy said, according to Yonhap.

The memorandum of understanding was signed between South Korea's Navy chief, Adm. Choi Yun-hee, and his visiting Peruvian counterpart Carlos Tejada at the South's naval academy on the southern coast city of Jinhae, the Navy said in a statement.

The agreement calls for the Navy to provide training to help Peru better operate vessels the country is expected to build jointly with South Korea. In April, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a South Korean shipbuilder, signed an MOU with Peru's government to jointly build naval ships.

The deal also calls for expanding broader exchanges and cooperation in various areas.

"Peru is a brother country that provided emergency relief funds to help save the Republic of Korea out of crisis during the Korean War, and condemned North Korea's brutality at the time of the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island," Choi said, referring to the North's 2010 artillery attack on the South.

"I hope South Korea's shipbuilding industry with the world's top technologies, IT technologies and the South Korean Navy's excellent training system will be helpful for the advancement of Peru's navy," he said. (Yonhap)