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April 10, 2006
Korea Times
The
Korea Times quoted Ali Mohamed Gedi, prime minister of the Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia, as saying his government was trying to
free the Dongwon Fisheries tuna vessel.
Four
rounds of negotiations between the kidnappers and Dongwon’s local
agents had shown no progress as of Sunday, the newspaper reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul said the two sides were to conduct their fifth round of talks on Sunday.
Meanwhile,
two Dongwon executives arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on
Saturday to accelerate the negotiation process by helping the local
agents make “critical decisions,” the report said.
A newswire service reported Friday the kidnappers were demanding a US$400,000 ransom.
But Dongwon rebuffed the report, saying the Somali faction had not yet expressed how much they wanted.
The
kidnappers, identified by the foreign ministry in Seoul on Friday as
“Somali Marine,” reportedly argued they are not pirates and what they
want from Dongwon is not ransom but a “fine” for the vessel’s illegal
fishing in its economic water zone.
Dongwon
received a fishing license from the interim Somali government, but the
kidnappers do not acknowledge it, the foreign ministry said.
The
361-ton Dongwon-ho 628 was seized on April 4 by eight armed pirates on
two high-speed boats when it was in international waters about 100km
from the coast of the Northeast African nation.
The
five Vietnamese on board are Hoang Dinh Tai, Nguyen Chinh Tho, Nguyen
Xuan Qua, Tran Xuan Luan, and Nguyen Van Hoi, all from the central
province of Nghe An.
The crew also included nine Indonesians, three Chinese, and eight Koreans.
The
Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Welfare has
entrusted the Inland River Transportation Corporation with monitoring
the situation and safely rescuing the Vietnamese fishermen.
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