MOMBASA, Kenya, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A South Korean trawler seized by Somali militiamen and held captive for four months has been docked in Kenya after the gunmen freed the 25-member crew.
The crew members were released after the ship's owner, Dongwon Fisheries Co., paid an $800,000 ransom, the Korea Times reported.
Their trawler, the Dongwon-ho, was seized April 4 by eight armed men who accused it of fishing illegally.
The crew members -- who come from South Korea, Indonesia, China and Vietnam -- will be flown home by Wednesday, officials said.
The captain and a replacement crew will take the ship back to South Korea.
The captors denied they were pirates, claiming they were a militia patrolling Somali waters to crack down on illegal fishing by foreign sailors, the newspaper said, and the $800,000 was not ransom, but a "fine" for illegal fishing.
Dongwon received a fishing license from the interim Somali government, but the kidnappers did not acknowledge it, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said.
