The Korea Coast Guard’s (KCG’s) Five West Sea Islands Guard Unit has boosted its interdiction capabilities with two new fast interceptor craft. The new vessels, with pennant numbers SM-01 and SM-02, were commissioned in late December 2019 and have been operationally deployed to the islands of Yonpyeong and Daecheong near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) de-facto maritime border with North Korea, according to the KCG.
The craft were built by Human Heavy Industries in Changwon under a contract awarded in November 2017. A steel cutting ceremony was held on 25 July 2018 and the first hull was launched on 13 August 2019.
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