In a daring operation early this morning, South Korean Navy commandos rescued 21 hostages aboard a South Korean merchant ship that was hijacked off the Somali coast last week. One hostage was wounded but is expected to recover - the other hostages were unharmed. Eight Somali pirates were killed and five captured in the operation, which was remarkably planned and executed in only a matter of days after the hijacking. The rescue comes at a time when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government had been criticized for its slow response in November to a North Korean attack on a South Korean island, as well as the sinking of a South Korean warship by the north earlier.
The perfectly executed operation bolsters the Lee government's new zero-tolerance approach to attacks on South Korean interests, as well as sending a message that it would not negotiate with Somali pirates.
(Photo: South Korean military trains off coast of Somalia in April 2009- Yonhap News)
