S. Korea warship pursues hijacked vessel - ASDNews
Lee held an emergency meeting on Sunday and urged officials to take "all possible measures" to rescue the ship and crew, she said.The reason why I say this might get interesting is..
Samho Jewelry was carrying eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 crew from Myanmar when it was hijacked on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka.
All crew members being held by the pirates have been confirmed safe so far, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
"The crewmen have been confirmed safe for now, with no unusual signs in their (physical) conditions... the ship's location has been identified," the spokesman told AFP.
Yonhap news agency said it would "take at least two days" for the warship, which is carrying more than 300 naval troops including special commandos, to reach the hijacked vessel, citing an unnamed government source.
1. The Naval Troops would be S. Korean Marines. After the beating they've taken at home because of the slow response in relation to the N. Korean artillery barrage has their command ready to strike at blow at anyone...anywhere...
2. The S. Korean President is also suffering the fallout. He failed to protect his citizens and now he has a chance to prove his toughness...even if its on the other side of the planet.
3. I wonder what the EU anti-piracy 'unit' is going to say about this incident. Is it a case of the S. Koreans going it alone or will they assist. Same applies to the US Navy. Do the S. Koreans even want assistance.
Yep, this might become interesting.
Not sure the EU would get involved, the area it was taken seems to be outside of the area of operations for the Somali piracy mission (Gulf of Aden and down the African coastline mostly). But if the Koreans asked for the assistance of a nearby vessel I doubt they'd just ignore it. But then they don't do much when its their own vessels being hijacked right now, so I doubt they would be much use.
ReplyDeleteLike the Japanese and the Chinese ships in the area, I suspect there is a liason to either the EUNAVFOR staff or NATO's TF-150/TF-151.
ReplyDeleteThere are some guidelines about jurisdiction and AO, but as Grim said, the South Koreans will probably go at it alone as it is their ship.
Both EUNAVFOR and NATO have responded whenever aid was requested from non-participating "flags", but this was mostly (P-3) surveillance coverage.
I have faith in the ROK should they decide to board, but it will indeed be interesting to see how this will turn out.
Latest: ROKN marines seized the hijacked ship Sambo Jewelry ~2,400Nm east of Somalia, and saved all 21 crewmembers, killing 8 pirates and capturing five. The captain was shot by pirates but is reportedly not critical, all other crewmembers are unhurt.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding work S.Korea!
That is, 800 miles east of Somalia.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/22/3118662.htm?section=justin
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