Tag: South Korea

Along with other countries will discuss ways to fight piracy South Korea will take part in a counter-piracy meeting in Rome this week, the foreign ministry here said Sunday.South Korea will join the host Italy along with other nations including the United States, Britain, France and Norway on Wednesday to discuss ways to cut off illicit financial flows linked to piracy and to share information in their fight against piracy.Moon Ha-young, a foreign ministry envoy for consular affairs, will represent South Korea at the meeting, the ministry said.

On June 29, Seoul will host the second meeting on illicit funding for the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), with about 40 nations attending.A ministry official said the Rome meeting will help about 10 key participants prepare for the CGPCS gathering.The CGPCS was established in January 2009 under a U.N. Security Council Resolution to coordinate actions among some 50 nations and organizations to combat Somali pirates. South Korea chaired the seventh plenary meeting of the CGPCS held in New York last November.Source: Seatrade Asia

Guilty of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea. A Somali pirate was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of hijacking a South Korean-operated ship in the Arabian Sea.Abdulahi Husseen Maxamuud was the fifth and final gang member to be sentenced after four others were given long jail terms last Friday.They were seized when South Korean navy commandos recaptured the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry in a daring raid on January 21, six days after it was hijacked.Lawyers said earlier that Maxamuud would be tried separately because he would plead guilty.But on Wednesday he denied major involvement in the hijack, Yonhap news agency reported from the southern port city of Busan."I sincerely apologise for what happened... I was not involved in the crime because I was just the cook," the agency quoted him as telling judges, adding he had tried to restrain the other Somalis.The court cleared him of the attempted murder of the ship's captain but convicted him of maritime robbery and other charges. It said he deserved a heavy penalty because he was involved in piracy and showed little repentance.Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment.The trials were the country's first attempt to ...