The government spokesman said they are investigating who took the vessel, the 241-ton trawler Keummi 305, with its crew of two South Koreans, two Chinese and 39 Kenyans.

"Given past instances, it would put the hostages in even more danger if the government tried to negotiate directly with the pirates," a South Korean ministry official said. "We're trying to find out more about the incident using all possible channels."

Pirates boarded the crab trawler Keummi Oct. 9 while it was fishing in Kenyan waters about 10 miles off Lamu. The official said it was taken to a port in neighboring Somalia, a country from where pirates continue to operate despite major international naval efforts.

Maritime countries, including South Korea, have sent naval vessels to patrol the sea off Somalia. The area is a major cargo shipping route, especially for oil tankers, headed for passage through the Gulf of Aden and onwards to the Suez Canal.

The Keummi is the second South Korean vessel held by pirates. In April, pirates seized an oil supertanker around 1,000 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden. The ship was transporting crude oil from Iraq to the United States, a cargo reportedly worth around $170 million.

The South Korean government sent a 4,500-ton missile-equipped warship to the area in early 2009 after a rash of hijackings by pirates the year before in which many crew members of the captured vessels were South Korean. The South Korean ship operates alongside naval vessels from an EU task force designed to protect commercial ships in the area off Somalia.

In May 2009 the South Korean warship ship went to the rescue of a 6,400-ton North Korean vessel carrying iron ore -- a rare show of solidarity between the two nations officially at war. Armed pirates were attempting to board the ship in the Gulf of Aden, around 20 miles south of the Yemeni port of Aden.

The South Korean vessel sent a Lynx helicopter to the North Korean ship shortly after receiving a distress call that it was being chased by pirates. Warning shots were fired and the pirates left the area.

Coordinated international efforts to combat piracy were stepped up after a meeting in Manama, Bahrain, in August. South Korean naval representatives were among those from more than 20 nations, including the United States, China, India, Australia, Turkey and Pakistan. The regularly scheduled Shared Awareness and Deconfliction meetings are to share information about pirate activity in the area off Somalia.

Also working in the area is the EU Naval Force Somalia. It said its efforts have helped push the success rate of pirate activity from around 50 percent several years ago to less than one-third now.

This has forced pirates to roam further into the Indian Ocean in search of vessels. The area under threat has increased but it has also stretched the pirates' supply lines, making them more vulnerable to attack by EU NAVFOR ships, the agency said.

However, hostages are being held for a longer period and ransoms, when they are paid, are increasingly large.

In August an EU NAVFOR ship stopped an attack on the Norwegian chemical tanker Bow Saga after the captain sent a distress call that it was under attack in the Gulf of Aden.

The nearby Spanish frigate Victoria sent helicopters to the threatened ship and fired warning shots at the pirates, who were captured while trying to flee. No one was injured in the attack.

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