Caught between US and Iran, South Korea weighs Hormuz role

Dozens of South Korean citizens gathered near the US embassy in Seoul on Wednesday to protest against their government's consideration of deploying troops to the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Protesters, waving signs that read "Do not join a war of aggression," argued that the deployment would be a direct support for the United States' illegal war in the region.

The US President Donald Trump has urged South Korea to contribute to the Middle East war, which has seen Iran control the key waterway crucial to global oil supplies. Protesters, estimated to be around 60 in number, voiced their concerns outside Seoul's Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. A day prior, South Korean defense authorities had sent a fact-finding mission to assess the situation in Hormuz, while emphasizing that no decision on any deployment had been made.

The civic group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy's Jung Kyung-jik pointed out that Iran had warned against any South Korean deployment being considered as direct support for the aggressor and would result in serious consequences. South Korean protesters echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that sending troops to an illegal war would be unacceptable and that there was no reason for South Korea to send troops when no other country has done so.

Korean Peace Solidarity for Sovereignty and Reunification's Choi Young-ok warned that such a deployment would inevitably lead to casualties and that Seoul would need parliamentary approval to undertake such a deployment.