Seoul makes effort to identify hijackers of S. Korean fishing ship
5/4/2006 17:27
The South Korean government today is still trying to identify the
hijackers of a South Korean fishing ship that was hijacked off the coast of
Somalia ytesterday afternoon.
The 361-ton Dongwon-ho No. 628, owned by
Busan-based Dongwon Fisheries, was hijacked by a group of unidentified gunmen on
Tuesday off the coast of Somalia, confirmed South Korean Foreign Ministry
earlier Wednesday.
All the 25 crew members on board were abducted. The crew
includes eight South Korean fishermen, nine from Indonesia, five from Vietnam
and three from China, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
The
South Korean Foreign Ministry also informed Chinese Embassy in Seoul of the
information that three Chinese are among the abductees, according to source at
the Chinese Embassy.
Moreover, South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted Dongwon
Fisheries as saying that the captain of the hijacked ship managed to contact the
company's Busan office stealthily by radio after the incident
occurred.
"Eight armed insurgents believed to be pirates have just seized our
ship after threatening us with gunfire," Choi Sung-sik, the captain of the ship,
said in the radio message.
"We have been taken hostage by the pirates, but
all crewmembers are safe," he said, according to the transcript of the
communication.
Choi also told his company the hijackers took all the food
from his ship and have instructed crew to sail to the Somali port of
Obbia.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in his weekly regular
press briefing earlier in the day his government "is making full efforts to
secure the release of the ship and the crew. "
Ban said he sent an emergency
letter to his Somali counterpart, Edna Adan Ismail, urging the country to make
efforts to resolve the issue.
"I also sent similar letters to such
neighboring nations as Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia," he added. "The
characteristics and identity of the hijackers remain unknown. They have also yet
to issue their demands."
Earlier in the day, South Korea had a meeting of
related government officials on Wednesday to secure the release of the ship and
the crew.
The South Korean government has already formed a task force to deal
with the incident, with Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan as its head.
Xinhua
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