The Navy said on the 13th that it has decided to name the third ship of the Jeongjo the Great-class EGIS destroyers (KDX-III Batch-II), the core force of the maritime-based Korean three-axis system and the backbone of the mobile fleet, "Daeho Kim Jong-seo."
Names of Navy ships are decided by considering historical facts, military relevance, and public recognition, and through a ship-naming committee. The Navy has selected respected figures who contributed to national development as ship names. The first ship of KDX-III Batch-II is Jeongjo the Great, and the second is Dasan Jeong Yak-yong. Among the Sejong the Great-class EGIS destroyers (KDX-III Batch-I), the first ship is Sejong the Great, the second is Yulgok Yi I, and the third is Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong.
General Kim Jong-seo, chosen as the namesake of the third ship, contributed to expanding northern territory and stabilizing the border by opening six garrisons along the Tumen River in early Joseon. Considering the latest EGIS destroyer's powerful combat capabilities and mobility, and the will for autonomous defense, the Navy included "Daeho (Great Tiger)," one of Kim Jong-seo's pen names, in the ship's name.
Daeho Kim Jong-seo is 170 meters long, 21 meters wide, and has a standard displacement of about 8,200 tons. Equipped with the latest EGIS combat system, its detection and tracking capabilities against ballistic missiles have been enhanced. In the future, it will be fitted with ship-to-ground ballistic missiles and sea-based ballistic missile interceptors. Daeho Kim Jong-seo is being built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries. It is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy at the end of 2027 and, after force integration training, to be assigned to the Mobile Fleet Command.
Daeho Kim Jong-seo is the final ship of the KDX-III Batch-II program. On the 1995th, the requirement was set for three EGIS destroyers (KDX-III), and from 2008 to 2012, three Sejong the Great-class ships were delivered to the Navy.
The Navy said, "We plan to continue acquiring domestically built destroyers equipped with the latest domestically developed combat systems and armaments, such as the Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX), to defend the Republic of Korea's maritime sovereignty against the increasingly advanced and complex North Korean nuclear and missile threats."