2011.01.21 03:43
Risky SKorean raid saves all crew from pirates SEOUL, South Korea – At dawn, South Korean special forces packed into a small boat approached a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea. Commandos scrambled up a ladder onto the ship, aboard which Somali pirates were armed with AK assault rifles and anti-tank missiles. A South Korean destroyer and hovering Lynx helicopter provided covering fire. When Friday's operation ended five hours later, 21 hostages had been rescued, eight Somali pirates killed and five assailants captured. Pockmarks from artillery fire blanketed the ship's bridge. One of the hostages was wounded, but all were alive — a remarkable ending for a risky rescue. Only a handful of rescues in recent years have involved such peril to the crew..... .... The daring and rare raid — what the South's president called a "perfect operation" — handed South Korea a stunning success in the battle against pirates who have long tormented shipping in the waters between Africa and the Arabian peninsula. It was also a triumph for President Lee Myung-bak, whose government suffered harsh criticism at home in the weeks following a North Korean attack in November on a South Korean island near disputed waters. Critics said Lee's military was too slow and weak in its response to the attack, which killed two marines and two civilians. Friday's operation in waters between Oman and Africa came a week after the Somali attackers seized the Samho Jewelry, a 11,500-ton chemical carrier, as it was sailing from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka. During the rescue, the South Korean captain was shot by a pirate. He was taken by a U.S. helicopter to a nearby country for treatment, but the wound is not life-threatening, Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho told reporters. The 20 other crew members — seven South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 citizens from Myanmar — were rescued unharmed and were in good condition, he said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the destroyer was accompanying the vessel to a safe area; it didn't elaborate. "We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future," President Lee said in a brief televised statement. Other countries' special forces have launched several raids to rescue pirated ships in the past few months, but only once they were assured the crew was locked in a safe room, commonly referred to as a "citadel." Those rescues happened just hours, not days, after capture; they were launched as soon as the crew's safety was confirmed. The raid on the South Korean Samho Jewelry was rare because it happened a week after the ship was seized; it was not clear if the crew was in a citadel on Friday, but at least the wounded captain was not. Militaries are usually reluctant to launch such raids because of the risk of harm to hostages. A French rescue in 2009 that came two days after a sailboat was taken left one hostage dead. Friday's raid marked the first rescue operation by a South Korean navy vessel that has been deployed in the Gulf of Aden to help fight piracy since 2009. "This operation demonstrated our government's strong will to never negotiate with pirates," Gen. Lee said. Countries have different criteria for deciding whether to launch raids, said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the head of Dryad Maritime Intelligence, which provides information about piracy to shipping companies. Some countries are aggressive, but others consider that the risk of hostages being caught in a crossfire was greater than the risk of waiting out the hijackers. But he said it's unlikely the pirates would try to retaliate by harming other crews. That "would be spectacularly unwise. Somalis are known for being good business people and I think that that would lead to very a quick collapse of their business model," he said. ..... There are now 29 vessels and 703 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The country lies next to one of the world's most important shipping routes, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. The Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet referred all questions to South Korea, although it said the U.S. Navy was aware of the rescue. Samho Shipping did not respond to a request for comment Friday. The Samho Jewelry was the second vessel from South Korea-based Samho Shipping to be hijacked in the past several months. In November, Somali pirates freed the supertanker Samho Dream and its 24 crew — five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos — after seven months of captivity. A company official said a ransom was paid that local media said was around $9 million. In April 2009, a French navy commando team stormed the yacht Tanit. The shootout killed two pirates and one French hostage and freed four French citizens. The order for the rescue came after the pirates threatened to kill the hostages. In the same year, U.S. navy snipers also shot three pirates who were holding an American captain hostage in a lifeboat after they had abandoned a larger ship, the Maersk Alabama. ___ AP writers Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, and Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report. |
2011.01.21 06:30
2011.01.21 08:45
2011.01.21 09:32
정말 우리 모두가 스스로 축하할 사건이지요.
작전에 참가한 청해부대와 UDT대원들에게도 감사를 드립니다.
그래도 매스컴이 엠바고를 잘 지켜주어 다행입니다.
생포된 해적들 문제가 떠 오르는데
러시아처럼 무동력선에 태워 보내는 것도 방법이겠지만
아직 귀환못한 선원들과 교환은 안될까요.
이놈 해적들 분파가 달라서 어떨지 모르지만서도.
애초에 생포자를 만들지 않았을 수도 있었는데.
2011.01.21 10:39
South Korean raid frees hostage crew from piratesBy KIM KWANG-TAE, Associated Press Kim Kwang-tae, Associated Press, 52 ins ago South Korea – At dawn Friday, South Korean commandos steered their boat to a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea. Under covering fire from a destroyer and a Lynx helicopter, they scrambled up a ladder onto the ship, where Somali pirates were armed with assault rifles and anti-tank missiles. Five hours after the risky rescue began, it was over. All 21 hostages were freed from the gunfire-scarred freighter. Eight pirates were killed and five were captured in what President Lee Myung-bak called a "perfect operation." It was a remarkable ending to the daring and rare raid, handing South Korea a stunning success in the battle against pirates who have long tormented shipping in the waters off the Horn of Africa. The lone casualty among the crew was the captain, identified as Seok Bae-gyun, 58, who was shot in the stomach by a pirate, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported. He was taken by a U.S. helicopter to a nearby country for treatment, but the wound was not life-threatening, Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Seoul.... (Remaining story abridged) |
2011.01.21 11:19
God Bless Korea !
I can imagine how much thinking and preparation had gone into this operation
by the people involved, including the president, prior to this daring act.
Even after the perfect preparation, as far as humanly possible,
our brave men needed help from above and a prayer to be successful,
which they were.
This reminds me of the story of "Judith" in the old Testament.
2011.01.21 12:26
부산일보는 엠바고를 깨고 일차공격 실패를 하루전 미리 보도했답니다.
러시아는 해적들이 항복했는데도 모두 사살했고, 본부까지 처 들어가서 파괴시켰고,
프랑스는 몸값을 주고 인질을 안전하게 확보한 후에, 소말리아 내부까지 쫓아가서
돈을 도로 뺐어 왔답니다.
국제적 공조만 있으면, 아무것도 아닌 것들인데, 묵인하다보니까, 해적들에게 투자하는
fund도 있다고 합니다.
2011.01.21 14:37
지난번 많은양의 ransom을 받아 챙기고 한국선박을 밥으로 알고
자꾸 괴롭히던차에 한국정부의 신속하고 단호한 응징에 특히선장의
경미한 부상 빼놓고는 전원 무사히 rescue를 한것은 통쾌한 일입니다.
이제 그들이 한국선박에도 불란서 선박과 같이 괴롭히지 않을것 같아
다행으로 생각합니다. 규정