ID :
209382
Mon, 09/26/2011 - 09:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/209382
The shortlink copeid
S. Korea donates 3 retired patrol boats to East Timor
SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's defense ministry said Monday it has donated three retired patrol boats to East Timor to help the half-island state guard its waters, officials said Monday.
The donation came after South Korean Vice Defense Minister Lee Yong-gul and East Timor's State Secretary for Defense Julio Thomas Pinto signed an accord last month in Seoul, the ministry said in a statement.
A handover ceremony took place in Dili of East Timor earlier in the day, it said.
One of the three boats is a 170-ton, light-armed patrol vessel, which was decommissioned in 2008 after operating in South Korean waters for nearly three decades, according to the statement.
South Korea has provided its aging defense equipment to foreign nations, such as Bangladesh, Mongolia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan, since 2000.
South Korea operated a military unit of about 400 soldiers in East Timor from 1999-2003 as part of U.N. peacekeeping missions. Oil-rich East Timor won formal independence in 2002.
The donation came after South Korean Vice Defense Minister Lee Yong-gul and East Timor's State Secretary for Defense Julio Thomas Pinto signed an accord last month in Seoul, the ministry said in a statement.
A handover ceremony took place in Dili of East Timor earlier in the day, it said.
One of the three boats is a 170-ton, light-armed patrol vessel, which was decommissioned in 2008 after operating in South Korean waters for nearly three decades, according to the statement.
South Korea has provided its aging defense equipment to foreign nations, such as Bangladesh, Mongolia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan, since 2000.
South Korea operated a military unit of about 400 soldiers in East Timor from 1999-2003 as part of U.N. peacekeeping missions. Oil-rich East Timor won formal independence in 2002.
