South Korea's Cabinet Tuesday approved a government plan to send a naval ship and forces to waters off Somalia to protect international commercial vessels from pirates from the East African nation, Yonhap News reported quoting government officials.

A weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Myung-bak at the presidential office ratified the government plan to dispatch a Korean Navy destroyer and about 310 troops to the sea off the Gulf of Aden, said the officials.

Following the Cabinet approval, the Lee administration will present a motion to a special parliamentary session scheduled for February to allow the naval operation until the end of this year, they noted.

If the motion is ratified by the National Assembly, the South Korean Navy will be involved in overseas operations for the first time in the nation's military history.

Last month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing international land operations against "audacious, armed pirates" sheltering in Somalia. The resolution, co-sponsored by South Korea, Belgium, France, Greece and Liberia, authorized the states to "take all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia" to suppress "acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."

Somali pirates have attacked dozens of international cargo ships, including South Korean vessels, this year and are now believed to be holding nearly 20 ships and their crew hostage.