President Yoon Suk Yeol is seen wearing a T-shirt bearing the formal name of the sunken Cheonan warship while attending a family event at Yongsan Children’s Garden in Seoul on Aug. 26, 2023, in this photo provided by the presidential office.
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The presidential office has designed a T-shirt and a hat to commemorate the 46 sailors killed in North Korea’s 2010 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, an official said Monday.
The items bear the vessel’s formal name, PCC-772, and were worn by President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee during a family event held at Yongsan Children’s Garden on Saturday.
“The Cheonan T-shirt that we designed has been distributed to senior presidential secretaries, some secretaries and the Presidential Security Service,” the presidential official said, noting it will be worn by presidential staff during office events.
Yoon has previously been seen wearing a black T-shirt and cap commemorating the 46 sailors, which he purchased from a survivor of the sinking shortly before declaring his presidential bid in 2021.
The T-shirt and cap were worn when he took walks during visits to France and Lithuania in June and July, respectively.
The T-shirt designed by the presidential office also bears its official logo and the South Korean national flag.
“The aim is for us to commemorate the fallen sailors of the Cheonan together,” the official said. “We plan to produce the T-shirt in large numbers and distribute them.”
The Cheonan went down near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, on March 26, 2010, killing 46 sailors.
After an international probe, the South concluded the sinking was caused by a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine.
Yoon, a conservative, has stated the Cheonan’s sinking was clearly the act of North Korea, distancing himself from those who have questioned the government’s conclusion.
(Yonhap)
