S. Korean crew held by Somali pirates released: foreign ministry

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- Twenty-one crew members, including eight South Koreans, who were kidnapped last month by Somali pirates were released on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The eight and 13 Burmese sailors aboard a 15,000-ton South Korean-flagged vessel
were captured on Sept. 10, when the cargo ship was seized by pirates off the
coast of Somalia.
Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said, "The 21 were set free at 7:30 p.m. and
moved to a U.S. Navy ship on standby" in the Gulf of Aden. They are expected to
be transferred to safe waters before returning home on Oct. 26, according to
Moon.
The spokesman also thanked the company that owns the ship for its efforts to go
all out for the crew's release. Moon, however, stopped short of giving details on
the deal the company reached with the pirates.
The government is pushing ahead with a set of plans to deter pirates in the
region from attacking South Korean ships and their crews. One of the plans under
consideration by Seoul is to dispatch naval troops there as a way to effectively
thwart abduction attempts by pirates, Moon said.
The Gulf of Aden, sandwiched between Somalia and Yemen, has become the world's
most dangerous piracy hotspot, largely due to the lawlessness in Somalia, wracked
by years of civil war.
More than 25 cases of ship kidnappings were reported there last year alone. A
South Korean tuna ship with 25 crew members was hijacked by Somali pirates in
April 2006. The ship and its crew were released for a ransom after four months.
In 2007, two South Korean fishing vessels were seized by Somali pirates. The crew
was released after six months in captivity.