(Yonhap Interview) U.S. commander leads ethnic Koreans expanding presence in Navy

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By Sam Kim
DONGHAE HARBOR, South Korea, March 13 (Yonhap) -- Practicing a script out loud
inside the bathtub of his house in the gritty South Korean port city of Incheon,
a young Choi Hee-dong struggled for a place on the stage where his primary school
was due to perform a play.
About three decades later, the 41-year-old U.S. Navy Commander says his stage has
literally transformed into the ocean, as he skippers one of the world's most
advanced naval destroyers.
Speaking aboard the USS Chafee, Choi, the first ethnic Korean to command a U.S.
destroyer, said he has fulfilled his dream of navigating the world, having served
nearly 20 years in the Navy.
A native of Incheon, west of Seoul, Choi moved with his parents to the U.S. at
just six months old as his father had been accepted into an American theology
school.
Choi came back in his third year of grammar school after his father's study was
completed, his mother said, speaking outside the harbor where the ship was
docked, about 180 kilometers east of Seoul.
"My son started dreaming of becoming a seaman as he watched American television"
broadcast in South Korea to support tens of thousands of U.S. forces stationed
here, Choi Hyang-sook, 64, said.
Describing him as a boy initially torn between acting and sailing, the mother
said that once her son set his mind on becoming a U.S. naval commander, the
family decided to help him make headway toward it.
They moved back to the U.S. following Choi's middle school graduation, and Choi
was commissioned as a U.S. ROTC officer in 1990.
"There was something romantic about sailing out to the sea and around the world,"
Choi said, offering a tour of the 9,200-ton vessel deployed to his native country
as part of the 12-day joint annual military exercise that kicked off Monday.
His ship, of which he took the helm a year ago, is home to more than 300 crewmen,
but Choi says leading a ship can be as solitary a task as any.
"It is a very lonely job, because you're the highest man responsible for all
these men and women," he said, adding his career depends on the job each and
every one of his sailors performs daily.
A glance into his room annexed to the steering house showed an acoustic guitar, a
Korean poker set, a bundle of South Korean instant noodles, and a black shiny
slab engraved with his name in Chinese -- a typical feature of an office used by
a senior South Korean official.
Having been on board 17 years, Choi, single, said his joy has been to look after
his crew members and other naval officers, including Jeffrey Kim and Shawn Kim,
two other U.S. commanders ethnically Korean.
Jeffrey Kim is set to be commissioned as chief officer of the USS John S. McCain
in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan, according to officials.
Choi said the path to becoming the head of one of about 20 U.S. destroyers has
not been easy, even though he's been blessed not to have been discriminated
against for his race, except for one incident.
"I was once asked by a classmate which country's navy I had come from when I
entered a classroom at a military school. I was confused for a moment whether I
was wearing my uniform inappropriately," he said.
Touting his 2003-commissioned ship as the most capable American destroyer that
shows U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea against North Korea, Choi
dismissed Pyongyang's claims that the exercise amounts to a war preparation.
"We are here to execute an operational plan based on scenarios of North Korean
invasion into South Korea," he said, as he explained a set of four radars with
waves so powerful that they would knock out the entire communication network of
an adjacent city.
He also said the training has been sufficient for his destroyer to intercept a
missile should such an order be given after North Korea turns out to have
prepared one intended to strike the U.S.
Pyongyang says it is readying a satellite for a peaceful purpose.
The USS Chafee is equipped with nearly 100 rockets, including SM-3 missile
interceptors and Tomahawks that an officer on the ship said could "nail a window
of a Pyongyang building hundreds of kilometers away."
"Of course, dialogue and diplomacy come first," Choi said.
The Aegis-guided USS Chafee will engage in full-scale training starting this
weekend, he said. The ship is named after a U.S. marine veteran and politician
who fought in the Pacific War and the Korean War.
The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise -- combined into a single drill in the
early 2000's -- is aimed at assessing the abilities of the U.S. to quickly
reinforce frontline South Korean troops in case war breaks out on the Korean
Peninsula. It is also aimed at deterring rear infiltration.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are regularly stationed in South Korea -- a legacy of
the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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