Somali pirates seized a South Korean- flagged oil tanker about 1,200 nautical miles to the east of the world's most dangerous waters of Somalia, Yemeni Interior Ministry Monday quoted a communique of the Embassy of South Korea in Sanaa as saying.

The ransom-seeking Somali pirates have moved the oil tanker towards the Somali coast, said the ministry in a statement posted on its website.

The statement neither provided the specific date of the hijack process, nor other details.

On March 29, Somali pirates hijacked a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-owned cargo ship with 24 crew members aboard off Somalia.

The 4,500-ton Panamanian-flagged Iceberg 1, owned by Iceberg International Ltd, was carrying general mechanical equipment from the Port of Aden to UAE.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia.

Ransoms started out in the tens of thousands of U.S. dollars and have climbed into the millions.

The Gulf of Aden, off the northern coast of Somalia, has the highest risk of piracy in the world.