South Korean snipers defend North Korean freighter from pirates

As previously noted, finals have left little time for pirate blogging but this brief story seemed worth mentioning in light of an earlier post on the potential for international cooperation that piracy may bring about. From the New York Times:

South Korean snipers in a helicopter chased away pirates pursuing a North Korean freighter on Monday, in a rare instance of cooperation between the Koreas. The episode took place near the Yemeni port of Aden, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The pirate vessel gave up chasing the North Korean freighter after snipers aboard the helicopter prepared to fire warning shots, the South Korean military said in its statement. Relations between North and South Korea have frayed since a conservative government in the South took power last year with a vow to get tough on the North over its nuclear program.