South Korea announced on Saturday that it had launched a frigate called Cheonan, named after an iconic corvette that was said to have torpedoed North Korea in 2010, killing 46 people.
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This tragedy, which occurred near the maritime demarcation line with North Korea in the Yellow Sea, remains the worst incident between the two countries since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
An international investigation concluded that it was a North Korean attack, something Pyongyang has always denied.
The new Cheonan, a 2,800-ton frigate equipped with state-of-the-art anti-submarine warfare capabilities, is in “an unbeatable combat readiness position,” the South Korean Navy said in a statement.
The destruction of the eponymous ship on March 26, 2010 near South Korea's Baekryeong Island remains a major national drama in South Korea, where President Yoon Suk Yeol has not hesitated in the past to appear wearing a T-shirt depicting the boat .
The launch of the frigate comes against the backdrop of increasing tensions with North Korea.
Pyongyang on Monday carried out a test fire of its Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, the most powerful in its arsenal, and its leader Kim Jong Un threatened a nuclear response on Thursday if the country felt “provoked” by nuclear weapons.