Thirteen days after remaining unconscious, the 58-year-old was removed from a respirator on Thursday morning and opened his eyes at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, south of Seoul.

   After the captain had difficulty breathing at around 2:30 a.m. on Friday, he was immediately put back on the respirator and had a bronchial tube attached, and has since remained in stable condition, hospital officials said.

   "Capt. Seok's condition can often occur in patients with serious external injuries. We will do our best to conduct orthopedic treatment while maintaining his air tube and respirator," hospital director Yoo Hee-seok said at a Friday morning briefing.

   If signs of pneumonia and other complications persist, doctors will have to wait a couple more weeks to carry out another round of surgery on Seok. Depending on his condition in the next few days, doctors will stitch up his wounds and fix his fractured arms, Yoo said.

  On the sixth day of an investigation into the incident, the Coast Guard in the southern port city of Busan said it has secured additional testimony from one of the seven South Korean crew members, who said he saw Arai Mahomed shoot Capt. Seok at point-blank range. In earlier interviews, a 61-year-old first officer had given a similar testimony.

   The 23-year-old Mahomed had confessed to firing at Seok earlier in the investigation but later denied his allegations.

   Under South Korean law, the pirates could be sentenced to at least five years in prison for hijacking the ship and life imprisonment or even death for firing at the captain from a close distance.