Chilean naval vessel makes port call in Busan for friendship visit

BUSAN, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- The Chilean Navy's training ship Esmeralda sailed into a naval port in South Korea's largest coastal city of Busan on Friday as part of training newly commissioned officers and promoting friendship with the South Korean Navy.

The four-masted ship, with a length of 113 meters and a width of 13.11 meters, is docked at the port of South Korea's Naval Operations Command. There are 314 people, including 97 newly commissioned officers on board.

The 3,600-ton naval vessel will stay in Busan for five days, with a delegation of the crew members to hold talks with South Korean naval commanders to promote exchanges and cooperation between the navies of the two countries.

The group of newly commissioned officers is scheduled to visit the Korean Navy Academy and the Submarine Command in nearby Changwon on Saturday and the U.N. Memorial Park in Busan the next day to remember the hundreds of Allied soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War who are buried at the cemetery.

The Esmeralda, on a seven-month training exercise around the Pacific, left Chile on June 9 and will visit 10 ports in nine countries before returning home on Jan. 5.

namsh@yna.co.kr
(END)