BARTAMAHA(SEOUL): — Five Somali pirates captured by the South Korean navy during a mission to rescue a hijacked ship may be taken to South Korea for a trial there, 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, Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed senior official.

“Our stance is taking a strong legal action in any forms considering the significance of the issue… we have no legal problems punishing them based on international maritime laws,” said the official quoted by Yonhap.

South Korean navy commandos on Friday stormed the Samho Jewelry, a 11,500-ton freighter hijacked on January 15 in the Arabian Sea, and rescued all 21 crew members — eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar.

Eight pirates were killed and five seized.

Neighbouring African countries such as Kenya have often tried seized pirates from Somalia in their own courts.

But Nairobi said last year it would stop the practice, urging the international community to share the burden of prosecuting and imprisoning pirates.

“Many neighbouring 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.

South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman was not available for comment.

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 in for criticism after paying ransoms to secure the release of crew members 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.

Piracy has surged off lawless Somalia in recent years, and international warships patrol the area in a bid to clamp down on the problem. Pirates are currently holding 29 vessels and about 700 hostages.

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Source:-AFP

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