South Korea to Conduct Anti-Piracy Drill Ahead of Sending Destroyer to Somalia

South Korea will conduct an anti-piracy drill on Friday with one of its destroyers before deploying it and its crew to the Somalian coast in Gulf of Aden for a corresponding mission scheduled for May, local media reported Thursday citing the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the Yonhap news agency, the one-day drill will involve the 4,500-tonne destroyer Daejoyoung, a 17,000-tonne commercial vessel and 350 sailors.

In May, the Daejoyoung is expected to join the South Korean naval group in the Gulf of Aden deployed there since 2009 as part of global anti-piracy fight off the Somalian coast.

Somalia has been plagued by civil war since 1991. Years of lawlessness and corruption have provided pirates with ample opportunities to hijack international ships for ransom with relative impunity.

In 2008, the European Union, along with a number of non-EU members states, launched the anti-piracy operation "Atalanta." The ships of the participating countries have been patrolling shipping routes off the shores of the Horn of Africa since December 2008. In November, the Council of the European Union extended the mandate of the operation until December 2018.

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