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SEOUL: The US Navy's help to North Korean crewmen in fighting off Somali pirates was unprecedented in the half-century of hostility between Pyongyang and Washington, officials and analysts said Wednesday.
The US Navy helped the crew regain control of their freighter in a violent struggle Tuesday after it was captured by pirates off Mogadishu.
At least two attackers died in the clashes and five were captured, while three of the 22-strong crew of the North Korean ship the MV Dai Hong Dan were seriously injured, the US military said.
"As far as I know, there has been no previous case in which the US military helped North Korea," an official with the US military in Seoul said.
Some analysts said the navy's action would further improve relations between the historical foes, which have been warming since North Korea pledged to disable its bomb-making nuclear programme.
"It indicates a positive signal in relations," said Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor at Dongguk University's North Korea department.
"The unprecedented case, which came amid progress in efforts to disable North Korea's nuclear facilities, is certain to help the two countries improve indirect and humanitarian exchanges."
Kim Yeon-Chul, a political science professor at Korea University's Asiatic Research Centre, said the incident "will have a positive impact on relations between North Korea and the US."
However, another analyst who declined to be named saw the navy's action as an isolated incident unlikely to spur an improvement in relations.
The USS James E. Williams responded after the International Maritime Bureau passed on a distress signal from the North Korean ship following its seizure.
Three seriously injured North Korean crew members have been transferred to the US ship for treatment.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell had no comment Tuesday on the possible ramifications, according to the US Defense Department website.
He was asked about how unusual it was for the US military to help a North Korean ship, and what would happen if the wounded crew members chose not to return to their country.
"I don't think I am prepared to answer any of those questions," Morrell answered.
The United States headed a United Nations force which defended South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War. Tens of thousands of US troops have remained in the South ever since.
Tensions rose sharply in 1968 when the North Koreans seized the US Navy spy ship the Pueblo, and in 1976 when the North's troops murdered two US soldiers inside the Demilitarised Zone along the inter-Korean border.
- AFP
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