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Five Somali pirates captured by the South Korean navy during a mission to rescue a hijacked ship may arrive in South Korea this week for a trial, a report said Sunday. Seoul has started legal reviews to try the five Somalis, as African countries refuse to try them in their own courts, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unnamed official. "Our stance is taking a strong legal action in any form, considering the significance of the issue. ... We have no legal problems punishing them based on international maritime laws," the official told Yonhap. South Korean navy commandos on Friday stormed the Samho Jewelry, a 11,500-ton freighter hijacked January 15 in the Arabian Sea, rescuing all 21 crewmembers - eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar. Eight pirates were killed and five were seized, according to AFP "Many neighboring countries have expressed a reluctance to accept our request (to prosecute the pirates)," Yonhap quoted the official as saying. The final decision on the captured pirates will be made as early as Wednesday, when the freed ship, escorted by a South Korean naval destroyer, arrives at the Omani port of Muscat, it said. The rescue was seen as a major morale boost for the South's military, which has faced strong domestic criticism for a perceived weak response to North Korea's shelling of a border island in November. Seoul has also come under criticism after paying ransoms to secure the release of crewmembers from six vessels hijacked by Somali pirates. A supertanker belonging to the same shipping operator, Samho Shipping, was released in November in exchange for a reported ransom of $9 million after being held for seven months, according to AFP. However, Somali pirates threatened Sunday to kill any South Korean seamen they take hostage in the future in retaliation for the pirates deaths. |
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