S Korea hails release of Daewoo workers in Nigeria

SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - South Korea hailed the release of nine oil workers abducted by gunmen in Nigeria, as they were safely handed over to their employer Daewoo Engineering today.

''The workers are now in Abuja, Nigeria, and will return to Seoul on Jan. 16,'' said an official at the South Korean foreign ministry.

On Wednesday, gunmen in six boats invaded a riverside oil services base in Nigeria's southern delta and kidnapped the nine men, apparently for ransom, after blowing up part of an office building.

A Nigerian government spokesman said they were released unharmed yesterday.

The Korean foreign ministry said in a statement that an agreement was reached between the gunmen's group and the Nigerian government, without elaborating.

Ministry officials did not comment on whether any money was paid in exchange.

''As far as we know for now, the release was made without conditions,'' said an official at Daewoo's emergency team. ''The workers were handed over to us in good health.'' Crime and militancy flourish in the Nigerian delta, which accounts for all the 2.5 million barrels of oil per day output of the world's eight-biggest crude exporter.

Daewoo is working on a pipeline project in the area.

''I can't believe this until I see my son,'' Lee Soon-hee, mother of one of the kidnapped workers, Choi Jae-chang, was quoted by Yonhap News as saying.

REUTERS SY KP0922