On January 21, 2011, the Korean navy commandos rescued the twenty-one crewmen abducted and detained by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates captured alive were brought to Korea for trial and the prosecutor’s office of Pusan sentenced the leader of the Somali pirate group to life-imprisonment. The other four pirates received imprisonment terms from 12 to 15 years. Regardless of these domestic legal punishments, this rescue operation has raised a few critical international legal questions. The primary objective of this paper is to answer these questions. This research analyzes the international legal characteristics of the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. Then, a few case-studies of military rescue operation are carried out in order to justify the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. The Korean Navy’s rescue operation may be regarded as an act of forcible self-help and realization of existing international legal right.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze maritime piracy and its economic implications with particular attention to attacks registered in the Gulf of Aden, The paper also aims to investigate how the International community, along with Sovereign States, should allocate resources in order to make the seas a safer place and describe how closely inter-related maritime piracy, preventive and punitive measures put in place by Governments are. Elements of economics and ergonomics are taken into account in order to properly investigate the major legal issues relating to maritime security. The paper proposes a cost-benefit analysis in order to investigate in theory what is the rationale behind engaging in criminal behavior and recommend some solutions to the issue to be undertaken by the International community. It is concluded that in order to cost effectively fight piracy, a mix of more coordinated National and International laws, standardized and increased punishment levels among jurisdictions and extended patrol controls are needed.