Koreas unite in waters continents away during anti-piracy operation

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) -- The captain of a South Korean warship operating in pirate-plagued Somali waters said Wednesday the recent rescue of a North Korean freighter by his unit transcended political animosities between the two countries and even generated a fresh sense of friendship.

On Monday, the Cheonghae naval unit, aboard a 2,100-ton destroyer, dispatched a
helicopter to chase away a boat carrying suspected pirates that was chasing a
North Korean steel transporter.
Upon arriving at the scene, the Lynx helicopter threatened to fire, prompting the
boat to veer away. It was the first South Korean military operation protecting a
North Korean vessel since ties between the countries soured over the past year.
"It was a very urgent call for help, received through an international network,"
Capt. Jang Sung-woo said as he spoke aboard the Munmu the Great destroyer in a
satellite-linked telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency.
Jang, whose 300-strong crew has operated in the Gulf of Aden since early last
month as part of a U.S.-led multinational anti-piracy campaign, said there was no
room for hesitation when he learned his ship was the closest military unit to the
North Korean vessel.
"We checked with the Combined Forces Command, which told us we were the closest.
We had to act," he said. "It didn't matter whether it was a North Korean vessel
or some other foreign one."
"We have the humanitarian duty to rescue boats on the brink of being captured by
pirates," he said.
Jang ordered the dispatch of a helicopter aboard, relying on radars to monitor
the movement of the North Korean ship, Dabaksol, and the suspicious boat carrying
a set of ladders.
After catching up with boats incapable of high-speed maneuvers, Somali pirates,
carrying automatic weapons and rocket launchers, clamber aboard by using ladders
and grappling hooks.
Jang said he would have ordered his unit to fire warning shots had he determined
the suspected pirates would not turn away.
"We would have fired immediately," he said.
After the operation ended in less than an hour, crewmembers on the North Korean
vessel waved their hands at the South Korean helicopter, expressing gratitude.
The troops on the helicopter waved back, Jang said.
"It wasn't as if we promised to do that. It was spontaneous, something that came
naturally," he said.
"Thank you. Please take good care of us," an unidentified crew member on the
vessel had said, according to a transcript of the dialogue that occurred between
the two sides.
Tension remains high on the Korean Peninsula over 8,000 km away from Somali
waters. North Korea warned this year of an armed conflict along their border and
detains a South Korean man it accuses of having denounced its regime and
encouraging a North Korean woman to defect.
The two Koreas are technically at war after their 1950-53 Korean War ended in a
truce rather than a peace treaty. Their relations are considered to be at their
worst point in a decade after President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul early
last year with a pledge to get tough on the nuclear weapons development pursued
by Pyongyang.
Somalia has not had a functional government since its dictator was overthrown by
warlords in 1991. Poverty has driven a large number of locals to piracy, while
black market sales of weapons run rampant.
Approximately 500 South Korean ships ply the route each year, according to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, which estimates 150 are vulnerable to pirate attacks
because of their low speed. Jang declined to say how many North Korean vessels
use the route.