ROK Navy’s Cheonghae Unit key player in global anti-piracy missions
Felix Kim
The Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy’s Cheonghae Unit continues to strengthen global maritime security initiatives 15 years after it was formed to support anti-piracy operations under United Nations mandates.
Initially focused on operations in and around the Gulf of Aden off the Somalia coast, the unit has escorted thousands of vessels through threatened waters and conducted rescue operations. The unit concluded its 41st deployment in March 2024, having ensured the safe passage of 520 ships and supported maritime security operations spearheaded by the international Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in the Gulf of Aden.
“I highly praise the hard work of the 41st Cheonghae Unit soldiers who returned after completing their mission to protect the lives and property of the people even in a severe security situation,” Rear Adm. Park Gyu-baek, commander of the recent deployment, said in a South Korea Ministry of National Defense (MND) news release.
The unit began its six-month deployment aboard the destroyer ROKS Yang Man-chun as part of a crew of about 300, including special operations forces and Marines. The unit also conducted joint training with the navies of Malaysia, Pakistan, Spain and Vietnam to enhance cooperation and interoperability, the MND reported. The destroyer visited major naval units in Malaysia, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam to foster exchanges and promote cooperation.
The Cheonghae Unit supports international efforts to eradicate maritime piracy, while also providing the ROK Armed Forces with valuable operational experience, Dr. Bruce Bennett, a Rand Corp. expert on Northeast Asian military issues, told FORUM.
“They gain experience with actually doing operational things and having to respond to emergencies, and the special forces who are on board the ship learn how to defeat an adversary like this,” Bennett said. “South Korea has had a couple of their merchant ships actually seized by pirates, and their unit in the area there actually defeated one of those seizures.”
In 2011, the South Korean-operated chemical tanker Samho Jewelry was seized by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, with 21 crew members taken hostage as the pirates sought to commandeer the tanker as a staging vessel to launch further attacks. The destroyer ROKS Choi Young was deployed in response under the Cheonghae Unit’s then commander. The unit, including 30 commandos, several small boats and a helicopter, overpowered the pirates after a firefight and rescued the tanker and its crew.
Among other multilateral maritime initiatives, the Cheonghae Unit helps strengthen interoperability among the 43 member navies of the CMF, Bennett said. The U.S.-led partnership counters unlawful nonstate activities across more than 8 million square kilometers of international waters, including some of the world’s vital shipping channels.
The unit’s personnel “learn the differences of different nationalities in their training approaches, the character of their ships and their weapon systems so that they’re better prepared to interact and cooperate together in an actual crisis situation,” Bennett said.
Felix Kim is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.
