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| Africa Horn | |
| SKorean warship rescues NKorean vessel off Somalia | |
| 2009-05-05 | |
| South Korean snipers hovering in a helicopter Monday chased away pirates pursuing a North Korean freighter, a rare instance of recent cooperation between the two Koreas. The South Korean ship has been operating off Somalia since last month on a mission to protect its cargo ships from Somali pirates, whose acts of high-seas crime have exploded in recent years as the bandits continue to get ransoms in the millions of dollars. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the 4,500-ton-class warship sent a Lynx helicopter to assist the North Korean vessel shortly after receiving a distress call that it was being chased by the pirate ship. The pirate vessel gave up chasing the North Korean vessel and sped away after snipers aboard the helicopter prepared to fire warning shots, the statement said.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 North Korea has a habit of punishing the entire family - up to thee generations for someone's 'crime'. And its not just for 'jumping ship' - its their way of stamping out the 'seed of revolt'. Most of the Gulags are filled, not with individual members, but entire families of someone who committed a so-called 'crime' against the state. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-05-05 15:23 |
| #6 #1 Do North Koreans actually crew those ships? I am surprised the crews don't jump ship as soon as they enter port. Posted by: crosspatch Most of the crewmen aboard those ships have families in North Korea. Families make nice hostages, and Nork is not bashful about rounding up and killing the entire family of someone who might jump ship. All former communist countries in Europe did the same thing. A lot of people wanted to leave, but would only do so if their entire family could be smuggled out with them. A Romanian general escaped with his family in 1977. The Romanians found a third cousin, and publicly executed him, even though the two cousins had never met, and probably didn't even know they were related. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-05-05 14:16 |
| #5 Would you jump when you know your entire family is hostage for your good behavior? |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2009-05-05 14:04 |
| #4 (Wouldn't want a big nuclear accident just upwind from Seoul, right?) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-05-05 13:07 |
| #3 If Doc's right, then it would make sense for SK to help: better for them for NorK Plutonium to be in Syria than right next door in NK. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-05-05 13:06 |
| #2 Excellent in-line comment. Whahahaha. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-05-05 08:22 |
| #1 Do North Koreans actually crew those ships? I am surprised the crews don't jump ship as soon as they enter port. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-05-05 01:58 |