Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook What's this? NAIROBI,
Kenya (AP) - A U.S. Navy destroyer helped sailors who retook control
of their vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with pirates after the
North Korean-flagged ship was hijacked off Somalia, the American
military said.

You wouldn't think a North Korean flagged ship would be a target for
piracy.... for that matter, I didn't realize that North Korea had a
merchant marine.

"Edgar" wrote:
Piracy in Somali waters is nothing new. The island of Socotra, off the Horn
of Africa was poined out to me as a hotbed of pirates more than 50 years
ago when we passed it in a ship of the Royal Navy.
But I do think he hijacking of large merchant ships is a newer development.

It's a bad sign, yeah. But it's all about money. When $10k buys a gang
of thugs who will gladly take over a $10M ship & cargo, the profits
are such that it's a *very* tempting game.

The usual pirate gang is pretty dumb, and not that difficult to
dissuade. OTOH there are gangs out there (around Indonesia for
example) that have insiders in shipping & brokerage offices. They know
exactly what a ship's cargo & route are, and in some cases have
stooges among the crew. Difficult to fight, and when caught, they buy
off the judge(s).

Once they've pocketed a few hundred million, guys in this business
usually retire and go into politics

DSK