The North Korean cargo ship Dai Hong Dan, photographed by a US Navy sailor during a hijacking in October 2007. The US Navy helped to rescue the North Korean crew from a pirate attack, leading to a rare expression of gratitude from the North Korean government. (US Navy)

On This Day in History: US Navy Sailors Rescued a North Korean Ship from Somali Pirates

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After the rescue of the Dai Hong Dan, the North Korean government issued a statement praising the United States—probably the only time it has ever done so.

On October 29, 2007, the North Korean cargo ship MV Dai Hong Dan was sailing northeast along the Somali coast, having departed the port at Mogadishu earlier that day. The ship had delivered a cargo of sugar from India, and was now headed home empty.

As evening fell, a small motor-powered skiff overtook the Dai Hong Dan. The motorboat’s seven occupants asked permission to board, announcing they were a Somali government security force sent to protect the ship from the pirates that were so ubiquitous in those waters.

North Korean Captain Park Yong-hwan, an experienced merchant seaman, gave his permission, and the Somalis boarded his ship. The captain and crew were then surprised to find themselves held at gunpoint and herded to the engine room, where they were placed under guard. The supposed “security force” was in fact a gang of opportunistic pirates, who had helped to unload the ship’s cargo days earlier in Mogadishu and determined that it was virtually undefended.

Before the ship’s capture, its crew managed to send a distress signal and stop the engines, leaving it dead in the water. The pirates radioed a demand for $15,000 from the........

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