South Korea's anti-piracy unit will launch a mission in the Gulf of Aden to help protect the country's vessels detouring from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa after the waterway was blocked by a stranded container ship.

The Defense Ministry said on Monday that the Cheonghae Unit's four-thousand-400-ton naval destroyer Munmu the Great departed for the region earlier in the day.

Three South Korean vessels have reportedly detoured to the Cape of Good Hope, instead of waiting for the waterway to open up.

Last Tuesday, a Panama-flagged 200-thousand-ton container ship became stuck sideways in the Suez Canal in northeastern Egypt, blocking off the key international waterway connecting Asia and Europe.

According to foreign media outlets on Monday, the vessel was freed by salvage crews and traffic through the waterway has since resumed.