Hormuz Deployment Dilemma: Indirect Mission or No Role in an “Aggressive War”?

South Korea is caught between pressure from Washington and warnings at home that any deployment to the Strait of Hormuz could drag the country into an aggressive war. The presidential office says it is reviewing “practical contributions, including military contributions,” but President Lee Jae Myung told a civic group meeting that nothing had been decided and that he was deeply concerned.

The government is considering several ways to contribute without sending forces directly into combat. One option would expand the operating area of the Cheonghae Unit, which conducts anti-piracy operations off Somalia, into international waters near Oman. Other possibilities include maritime patrol aircraft, a naval logistics vessel and explosive ordnance disposal teams. A government-funded security researcher also suggested using the unit already in the Gulf of Aden to support freedom of navigation in the Hormuz Strait.

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Practical contributions, including military contributions, are being reviewed.

The debate has intensified as U.S. President Donald Trump presses Seoul to help with Iran-related issues. Trump recalled asking South Korea whether it could help “just a little” regarding Iran, and later promoted an argument that South Korea should sell Cheonmae-II air defense missiles to Ukraine. A senior U.S. administration official said Washington was still waiting for South Korea to deploy resources to the region, noting that the country is one of the biggest customers for Middle Eastern crude oil.

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We cannot do nothing regarding the Strait of Hormuz in the current South Korea-U.S. relationship.

The pressure comes as other disputes weigh on the alliance. South Korean investment agreed in a summit fact sheet has been delayed, while talks on uranium enrichment, spent-fuel reprocessing and nuclear-powered submarines have made no progress. Concerns about being left out are also growing as Trump pursues renewed dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

Opposition is mounting among civic groups and within South Korea’s political world. People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said deployment would clearly mean joining an aggressive war and should not happen in any form. The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice warned that taking part in a military confrontation in the Middle East could weaken the consistency and credibility of South Korea’s peace policy. Lawmaker Lee Ki-heon wrote that South Koreans and their military could not be sent into an open-ended war started by the United States. A former Defense Ministry official said the Iran war had even less justification than the Iraq deployment, while an Iranian security and political official was reported as warning that South Korea would be treated as participating in aggression by the United States and Israel if it deployed forces.

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The Strait of Hormuz deployment clearly means joining an aggressive war. There must be no deployment in any form.

A diplomatic source said preparations for possible contributions had advanced since a U.S.-Iran ceasefire memorandum emerged in June, but stressed that a deployment had not been approved and that a parliamentary authorization bill was not imminent.

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Nothing has been decided. I am deeply concerned.