By Kim Heung-sook
No chocolate do-rag. No Jack Sparrow charm and splendor. No cute mustache or handsome goatee. No one-legged charismatic men with parrots on their shoulders. Young in age, yet looking old and fatigued, came the Somali pirates into Seoul, devastating the decades-old fantasy my head had carried ever since I read ``Treasure Island” as an elementary school child.
Two weeks have passed since the pirates were brought to Korea on Jan. 30, a fortnight after they hijacked the freighter Samho Jewelry in seas off the Somali coast and controlled the lives of 21 crewmembers, including eight Koreans, until they succumbed to the successful operation of the Cheonghae Anti-Piracy Unit, the Korean Navy commandoes, on Jan. 21.
Owing to ``Operation Daybreak in Gulf of Aden,” all crew have returned to freedom, though the smart but ill-fated Captain Seok Hae-kyun is still in critical condition from bullet wounds. Seok reportedly slowed his ship down by mixing water into the engine oil to earn time for the Korean Navy SEALs. The operation killed eight pirates and left five others as captives.
After a week-long questioning of the Somali pirates and Korean sailors, the special investigation team said on Monday that one of the four bullets removed from Seok was from an MP5 of the Korean commandos and another was fired by an AK-47 rifle of the pirates. One bullet, which is believed to have caused the most damage by hitting his upper abdomen, was removed during a surgical operation in Oman but was lost while Seok was brought back to Korea.
I hope Seok will get well soon and investigators will stop endeavoring to identify both the Korean and Somali shooters responsible for the near fatal bullets. The bullets were fired during an armed conflict and it would be pointless to pick two particular men as guilty.
Now that the special team has wrapped up its investigation and sent the case to the prosecution, the fate of the five Somali pirates has emerged as a matter of public concern. In addition to hijacking the ship, the pirates wounded three Cheonghae commandos when the latter made the first rescue attempt on Jan. 18.
Pundits say that the pirates may face life imprisonment for charges of maritime robbery, attempted murder, ship hijacking and obstruction of special official duty. It’s the 21st century after all. Were it the 17th and 18th centuries, the sea-born criminals might be executed publicly by hanging.
Some people see the pirates, aged between 19 and 24, as unfortunate young men who were forced into the unlawful acts due to socio-political-economic situation of their country. According to Wikipedia, some Somalis become pirates allegedly to combat illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste by foreign vessels in their waters. They claim to be protecting their waters in the absence of an effective national coast guard.
In the meantime, the pirates make huge money from collecting ransoms. Their combined earnings is estimated at $80 million in 2008, $58 million in 2009, and $238 million in 2010. No wonder piracy increases shipping costs. Some rich pirates spend money recklessly in their homeland, raising eyebrows of many brethren while inspiring younger ones to follow in their footsteps.
Though it is not known how the five pirates in Seoul took up the illegal adventure as their career, it is obvious that they didn’t live lives deemed normal, let alone desirable, for their ages. They reportedly sneered when Korean investigators asked “When did you learn to shoot a gun?” It is easy to presume that they acquired the skill at an early age, probably before they could tell right from wrong.
If destiny had them born in Somalia, one of the least affluent countries still struggling to stand on its own feet after a civil war 10 years ago, it also is their luck to have become guests of Korea, though involuntarily. It is good to hear that the five are doing fine in Seoul prisons, eating rice and kimchi without much trouble. One of them even expressed the hope to be a naturalized Korean.
Whether they will end up behind bars or not, I hope, the five men will be given the opportunity to reset the course of their lives in a way more befitting their ages. We Koreans may not be able to improve living conditions for the entire 10 million Somali people, but we can at least help the five make their lives better. When they return home someday, I hope they will behave not as pompous, rich pirates but as enlightened ``treasures” of their country. Only then will I forgive them for ruining my childhood fancies about pirates.