Serving on the Forgotten Frontier

ROK Drop

November 6th, 2007 at 5:59 am

The Not So Humane North Korean Sailors

Let this be a lesson to pirates if they decide to mess with North Korean ships:

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. [Chosun Ilbo]

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  • Knickerbocker
    6:19 am on November 6th, 2007 1

    “Humane treatment” is an unfamiliar concept to the North Korean military. It’s a bit over their heads.

  • ChickenHead
    7:00 am on November 6th, 2007 2

    “The U.S. Navy asked the North Koreans to treat the five in accordance with international law at their next port of call.”

    Yeah… no problem, Mr. American Captain. We deal with them according to law at next port of call. Unggi, Ch’ngjin, or Najin… full speed ahead!

  • Richardson
    9:42 am on November 6th, 2007 3

    Oops - they slipped and hung themselves from the mast.

  • DPRK Studies
    9:50 am on November 6th, 2007 4

    Law of the Sea…

    The U.S. Navy captain was very… trusting:
    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 …

  • sesame seed
    10:08 am on November 6th, 2007 5

    How would North Koreans say “Squeeeeeaal, piggy, piggy!” Kuuuuuuul, deaeji, daeji? Somali Pirates — The Other dark meat.

    So… if the pirates are trophies, does that make them NK booty?

  • ChickenHead
    11:39 am on November 6th, 2007 6

    “the captain of the North Korean cargo ship Dai Hong Dan wanted to leave them in a rubber dinghy at sea”

    I bet they still get the dinghy… but with no rubber.

  • sesame seed
    12:26 pm on November 6th, 2007 7

    ChickenHead - LMAO

    “one of the reasons the U.S. destroyer was escorting the North Korean ship was to see how the sailors will treat the pirates.”

    I guess our boys are pretty lonely out there too. If they can’t have at it, at least they can watch.

  • Songtan1
    1:01 pm on November 6th, 2007 8

    As long as they are far out to sea, I think the dinghy is appropriate…as long as it has a moderate size leak in it.

  • skippy
    10:31 am on November 7th, 2007 9

    I think ‘Humane treatment” is an unfamiliar concept to the North Koreans in any aspect of life. I mean the capital city of Pyungyang doesn’t allow the elderly or pregnant women to keep residence there.

  • fencerider
    12:23 pm on November 7th, 2007 10

    I would venture to say that if a few American/Korean/British/(insert nationality) soldiers had their buddies killed by some pirates/terrorists/insurgents/(choose your bad guy) and held captive for x number of days/weeks under god/allah/buddah/(insert deity) knows what conditions that the thought of doing something inhumane to them might do more than just cross their minds. Someone might just slip and fall off the deck into the propeller…accidents happen. Good thing the Navy was there to keep them honest, eh?

  • Knickerbocker
    2:40 pm on November 7th, 2007 11

    You’ve got to admit that it’s pretty interesting to see the US and DPRK fighting on the same side. When has that ever happened?

  • ChickenHead
    2:51 pm on November 7th, 2007 12

    Do you suppose, once the Koreans were done with the Somali pirates, they all had black eyes and fat lips?

  • CPT KIM
    11:36 am on November 8th, 2007 13

    The other ROK media reported that there was a Korean-American sailor on board the USS Williams who provided translation support to North Korean victims. I wonder he/she was a member of original crew or may have placed it there from somewhere else?

 

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