A good lesson for pirates

Korean naval commandos raided a hijacked Korean freighter in the Arabian Sea Friday, rescuing all 21 crewmen including eight Koreans. Troops from the Korean destroyer Choi Young shot eight pirates to death and captured five just five hours after the rescue began. Despite a dangerous situation in which the hostages and their captors were together, the commandos successfully carried out their mission with the help of Lynx helicopters, an underwater demolition team and a U.S. patrol aircraft. The heroic rescue vented Korean anger against piracy targeting Korean ships.

The Samho Jewelry was the eighth Korean vessel hijacked by Somali pirates. All of the crew, except those on the Geummi 305 who have remained captive since October last year, were released after hefty ransoms were paid. The Samho Jewelry was hijacked just two months after the crew of the Samho Dream was released. The ransom of 9.5 million U.S. dollars paid to their captors is reportedly a record given to pirates, setting a bad precedent that encouraged pirates and made Korean vessels look like easy prey.

The U.S., Britain, France, the Netherlands and Russia, which have dispatched naval troops to waters off Somalia, have long stuck to the principle of never negotiating with pirates. In September 2008, France killed or arrested pirates who held hostage a French couple sailing on a luxury yacht. In April 2009, French President Nicholas Sarkozy took a harder stance against pirates though one of five hostages was killed in a rescue operation. In March last year, French naval forces seized four pirate mother ships and six smaller boats in anti-pirate operations, capturing 35 pirates off Somalia’s coast.

Pirate expert John Burnett told Newsweek magazine in April 2009 that Somali pirates try to avoid French vessels, saying the pirates never attack cargo ships with the French national flag. Rumor also has it that Somali pirates say they should not kill French tourists or U.S. crew. These suggest that pirates targeted the Samho Jewelry just two months after the Samho Dream crew was released after the record ransom was paid. Through high-tech information networks, the pirates know the exact routes that ships from various countries are sailing. Like France, a country should make clear that it will never condone an attack on its ships.

The latest operation by the Korean Navy was the first since March 2009, when the country send a destroyer to waters off the Somali coast. With the successful rescue, Korea should stop the vicious circle of paying ransom to pirates, who then target Korean ships. Seoul must also exercise jurisdiction over the five pirates it arrested. The nation should show a clear example to the pirates so that they never think of attacking Korean vessels again.