Sokor sends warship against abductors

Photo by. news4europe.eu In a show of force, South Korea deployed a warship in Libya to help secure the release of its national kidnapped along with three Filipinos in the North African country.

The 4,000-ton vessel, Munmu the Great, which took part in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, is now on its way to Libya.

In addition to “carrying out its duty of protecting commercial vessels, (the warship) is also preparing for all possibilities, including the need for military support,” a South Korean defense ministry spokesman said without elaborating further.

The three Filipino engineers and a South Korean were abducted in an attack on a water project site in western Libya on 6 July.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said three of the four captives in a video calling for assistance were Filipino technicians.

“We have seen the video and the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli confirmed that indeed the three male persons in the video were Filipino technicians kidnapped last month,” Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary and spokesman Elmer Cato said.

At the same time, he said the government is doing its best to ensure the safety and release of the Filipinos.

“We are glad to see them alive and safe. We’d like to assure their families that we’re doing everything we can to ensure their safe and early release,” he added.

The video circulated on social media in which four men asked their governments for help.

One of whom identified himself as a South Korean and the other three as Filipinos who were working on a water supply project.

The kidnapping was reported a month ago by the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli.

Chargé d’affaires Mardomel Melicor said the perpetrators entered the victims’ construction site, located 500 kilometers from the capital, and took five foreigners and four Libyans from their quarters.

A spokesman for Seoul’s presidential office said the government was doing “its utmost with all the resources the country has.”

“His country and his president have never once forgotten him,” spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement.

“The government has been maintaining a close cooperation system with the government of Libya and other allies, such as the Philippines and the United States, since the day of the incident for his safety and release,” Kim said.

Since former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted from power and killed in 2011, foreign workers and diplomatic missions have frequently been targeted by militias or jihadists such as the Islamic State group.