In an extremely rare public expression, North Korea officially thanked the United States for helping the crew of a North Korean cargo ship hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast late last month, describing the rescue as a symbol of Washington-Pyongyang rapprochement.

“We feel grateful to the United States for its assistance given to our crewmen. This case serves as a symbol of the DPRK -U.S. cooperation in the struggle against terrorism,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Crew members of a North Korean cargo vessel Tuesday overpowered Somali pirates and violently regained control of the freighter captured off Mogadishu port.

The 22-strong crew of the MV Dia Honga Dan overpowered armed pirates who had seized it overnight Monday and were demanding thousands of dollars in ransom.

According to officials in Mogadishu the pirates who had seized the boat were members of a Somali clan who were meant to be guarding the vessel.

The incident was the second piracy attack off Somalia’s 2,300 miles of coastline in recent days.

Somalia, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea, has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.

The US, which has a navy base in the Horn of Africa, has been reluctant to involve itself in Somalia since 1993 when 18 U.S. servicemen were killed in a bloody battle with Al-Qaeda linked militiamen.