S. Korea set to conclude legal process for sending navy ship to Somalia

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonnap) -- South Korean lawmakers are expected to approve later
this week the government's plan to send a 4,500-ton destroyer to pirate-infested
Somali waters, officials said Monday.

"The National Assembly will likely pass the motion for the dispatch around Feb.
27," Choe Jong-hyun, deputy spokesman at the foreign ministry said after a weekly
meeting of senior ministry officials.
If passed, the motion will allow the destroyer and some 310 troops to set sail
towards Somalia sometime next month to join the Combined Task Force 151 with a
mission to thwart pirates in the Gulf of Aden in cooperation with the U.S. and
its allies.
The warship will be tasked with patrolling the waters, escorting commercial
ships, and hunting down pirates, according to navy officials.
The Somali waters are notorious for piracy. In the latest case involving South
Koreans, pirates seized a Japanese-flagged freighter in November, holding captive
five South Korean and 18 Filipino crew. All of them were released unharmed
earlier this month. The amount of ransom paid has not been disclosed.
"The five South Koreans will arrive in South Korea Monday afternoon by way of the
United Arab Emirates," Choe said.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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