In the first half of this year, 70 incidents of piracy occurred in Asian waters, marking the highest number since 2015. However, there were no damages to our citizens and vessels.
According to the '2025 Global Trends in Piracy Incidents' report released by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 10th, there were a total of 90 piracy incidents worldwide in the first half of this year, a significant increase compared to the same period last year (60 incidents).
By region, the highest number of incidents occurred in Asian waters, with 70 reported. This is the highest figure since 2015 (107 incidents). Notably, acts of maritime robbery aimed at stealing supplies from vessels passing through the Singapore Strait surged from 13 incidents to 57 incidents. Following this, there were 12 incidents in West Africa and 3 incidents in the Somalia and Aden Gulf region.
However, the number of casualties among those onboard due to piracy incidents has decreased (from 98 to 67). There were no damages reported regarding Korean citizens and vessels.
Similar to the first half of last year, 4 incidents of vessel abduction occurred. Among these, there were 3 incidents in the Somalia and Aden Gulf region and 1 incident in West African waters. In particular, all piracy incidents occurring in the Somalia and Aden Gulf region involved vessel abductions, during which 26 crew members of the affected vessels were temporarily held.