27 May, 2017
South Korea's military has dispatched Saturday, May 27, 2017, a naval unit in waters off Somalia after pirates reportedly hijacked a South Korean fishing vessel.
South Korean's military said it is looking into options to save the vessel from the pirates and requested from Japan, Germany and India to conduct reconnaissance and sea patrol in the area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.
South Korea's naval anti-piracy unit, which was on routine patrol off Somalia, was urgently dispatched to the site, the official added. India, Germany and Japan have deployed their maritime surveillance aircraft to search for the vessel, the official said.
"Regarding this incident, President Moon directed (the government) to make all-out rescue efforts with a priority focused on saving (the sailors') lives", the foreign ministry said in a statement.
A South Korean navy unit in 2011 stormed a South Korean-operated chemical carrier Samho Jewelry that had been hijacked by Somali pirates, rescuing all 21 crew members and killing eight pirates.
South Korean foreign ministry said communication with the squid fishing vessel, with three Koreans and 18 Indonesians on board, was cut after midnight on Friday.
The fishing vessel that went out of contact was registered in Mongolia and owned by an ethnic Korean businessman living in South Africa.
A resurgence of piracy has occurred recently in the waters off of Somalia after years of inactivity.
Somali pirates began staging attacks in 2005, seriously disrupting a major worldwide shipping route and costing the global economy billions of dollars a year.
The Cheonghae Unit has been operating in waters off Somalia since 2009 as part of an global fleet to protect shipping lanes from pirates. The five captured pirates were taken to South Korea and received long prison terms.
