South Korean special navy forces have stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates and rescued all 21 crew members aboard.
Eight of the pirates were killed and five captured in the military operation, which took place off the coast of Africa, authorities said.
It comes a week after the attackers seized the Samho Jewelry and held hostage crew members from South Korea, Indonesia and Burma.
The captain of the ship was shot and wounded by a pirate. The other 20 crew members were rescued unharmed.
South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said: "We will not tolerate any behaviour that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future."
The chemical tanker was sailing from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka when it was hijacked last Saturday.
Naval special forces take up positions during the rescue operation
It was the second vessel from South Korea-based Samho Shipping to be seized in the past several months.
In November, Somali pirates freed supertanker Samho Dream and its 24 crew after months of captivity.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.
Piracy has flourished off its coast, sometimes yielding multimillion-dollar ransoms.
The ransoms the pirates get are among the few regular sources of income for small businesses that supply the pirates with food and other goods.
In April 2009, a French navy commando team stormed the yacht Tanit. The shoot-out killed two pirates and one French hostage. Four French citizens were freed.
In the same year, US navy snipers shot three pirates who were holding an American captain hostage in a lifeboat after they had abandoned a larger ship, the Maersk Alabama.
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