Cheonghae Unit

Cheonghae Anti-piracy Unit
The ROKS Yi Sun-shin participates in a naval exercise.
Active	March 3, 2009 – present
Country	Republic of Korea
Branch	Republic of Korea Navy
Type	Naval task force
Role	Anti-piracy, counter-terrorism
Part of	Combined Task Force 151
Commanders
Captain	Cho Young-joo

The Cheonghae Anti-piracy Unit (Korean: 청해부대, Hanja: 淸海部隊) was established by the Republic of Korea Navy to protect civilian ships near the coast of Somalia under Combined Task Force 151. The naval task force is named after the historical 9th-century Korean military base Cheonghaejin.

Deployed from Jinhae Naval Base, the modern-day unit is responsible for safely escorting hundreds of commercial vessels and several rescues involving ships from The Bahamas, Denmark, North Korea and South Korea. In January 2011, commandos in the Cheonghae Unit successfully executed a highly publicized rescue of a South Korean tanker, freeing crew members held hostage by Somali pirates.

ROKS Munmu the Great was the first ship to be deployed as part of the unit to Somali waters on March 13, 2009. On April 17, it deterred pirates from boarding the cargo vessel Puma, which was registered in Denmark. On May 4, the Munmu the Great responded to a distress call by the North Korean merchant vessel Dabaksol. A Westland Lynx military helicopter was launched to protect the Dabaksol until the pirates had fled. The North Korean sailors thanked the members of the unit before proceeding to India. A member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Republic of Korea stated, "This is the first time that the South Korean navy has rescued a North Korean cargo ship from a pirate’s attack. According to the international law of the sea, we should help all vessel[s] regardless of their nationality."