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North Korean sailors who fought off a hijacking by Somali pirates reportedly disagreed with their U.S. helpers over the treatment of five detained pirates. According to sources, the captain of the North Korean cargo ship Dai Hong Dan wanted to leave them in a rubber dinghy at sea after he and his crewmembers took back control of their ship with the help of the U.S. destroyer James E. Williams.
Two pirates were killed and five detained in a gunfight with the crew. Supporting the North Korean sailors, the U.S. destroyer sank two of the pirates¡¯ boats. But the captain of the U.S. warship opposed abandoning the pirates at sea, calling it inhumane and saying abandoning them at sea in a small boat without a motor goes against international law. The U.S. Navy asked the North Koreans to treat the five in accordance with international law at their next port of call.
The U.S. warship informed the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau and a country where the North Korean ship will dock, and the North Koreans agreed and sailed on.
According to a source, one of the reasons the U.S. destroyer was escorting the North Korean ship was to see how the sailors will treat the pirates.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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