“Right now, pirates go Scott-free when they enter Somalia’s territorial waters” after hijacking a ship in international waters, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

“There is no law there. But if you allow foreign navies to patrol the area, it will be a major deterrent,” he told The Associated Press.

Choong hailed the U.S. Navy’s swift move in going to the aid of the two cargo ships last week. In one incident Tuesday, the U.S. Navy provided medical assistance to North Korean sailors who regained control of their vessel, Dai Hong Dan, in a deadly battle with pirates that left several wounded and dead.

In the other incident, a U.S Navy destroyer followed the hijacked Golden Nori into Somalia’s territorial waters, the first time a foreign warship was allowed to do so, Choong said.

At one point, a U.S. helicopter fired to destroy pirate skiffs tied to the Japanese ship, which was carrying a load of highly flammable benzene.

Choong declined to comment as negotiations and operations are continuing to rescue the Golden Nori’s crew, who are being held by the pirates on board. The U.S. Navy is monitoring the ship.

“When seafarers are in distress, nationality should not come into the picture,” he said.

The U.S. efforts have come despite its hostile relations with the communist-ruled country over its nuclear program.

“You’ll always find our Navy prepared to help any ship in distress and certainly any ship that is confronting pirates,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said in Seoul, South Korea.

“This is a very serious security problem on the African coast. These are not pirates who will remind you of Johnny Depp. These are quite different kinds of pirates,” said Hill, the top American envoy to six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.

“So, I think we were pleased to be able to help in this regard and I hope the (North) understands that we did this out of the sense of goodwill that we have on this,” he said.

Somalia’s 3,025-kilometer (1,880-mile) coastline is the longest in Africa and near to key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. It is the world’s second biggest piracy hotspot after Indonesia, with more than two dozen ship hijackings already this year, some which turned deadly.

In October alone, three ships were hijacked there besides several other armed attacks that were ultimately abandoned, Choong said.

A total of five vessels and more than 65 crew are still being held by pirates, including the Golden Nori, two South Korean ships, one Taiwanese and another operated by a Dubai-based company, he said.

Wracked by 16 years of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have its own navy and the transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to assert control.

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