Criticism of South Korean naval authorities has intensified as it is revealed that the country’s only salvage and rescue ship was equipped with a fish-finding sonar instead of military-grade equipment.
ATS-II Tongyeong, a naval rescue vessel, was completed in 2012 at a cost of 159 billion won (US $150.7 million). But when the Sewol ferry sank on April 16 this year, Tongyeong was back in the construction yard, unable to be deployed to the rescue mission.
Now, defence suppliers face allegations that in the weeks following the ferry disaster, they knowingly attached a commercial sonar only suitable for salmon-fishing to Tongyeong, and tried to pass it off to the navy.