Imo 'behind The Scenes'

摘要

The IMO has responded to a request for information about how it worked back channels to secure the release of the VLCC Hebei Spirit officers, freed on bail in South Korea earlier this month. IMO secretary-general Efthimios Mitropoulos, in response to a 10 December 2008 Look Out in Fairplay, said he had been working "behind the scenes" to free the two officers. When asked for details, an IMO spokesman said: "It not for us to go into details on this. The secretary-general, as you said, had been in contact with ministers and diplomats in both Seoul and London for some time and had asked for the officers' release on humanitarian grounds."