South Korea Moves Navy Patrols Closer to Hormuz Strait

Photo: South Korean Navy via The Korea Herald

South Korea is moving its navy closer to the Strait of Hormuz for the first time. Seoul said on Thursday it will push its Cheonghae anti-piracy patrols out of the Gulf of Aden and into waters south of Oman, near the strait, and add a patrol aircraft and a bomb disposal team to the mission.

The decision comes after months of pressure from Washington. President Donald Trump has pressed Seoul to help keep the strait open since the US-Iran war began in February, and South Korea has been weighing its answer ever since. President Lee Jae Myung said in April he would help guard shipping, then said in September he would not send forces in a way that could drag the country into the war. This plan is his middle path.

Under the new mandate, the patrol area would stretch north-east to waters near the port of Duqm in Oman, about 650km from the strait. That roughly doubles the unit's operating radius, to about 1,930km. The unit would grow by 75 people, from 320 to 395, and gain a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, an explosive ordnance disposal team and unmanned mine-clearing kit. The mandate would run to 31 December 2027, if parliament agrees.

Seoul has been clear about the limits. Officials told Yonhap the mission would stay strictly non-combat, under South Korean command and independent of allied forces. Ships would work only in the open waters south of Oman, and the patrol aircraft would be barred from watching Iranian territory, its waters or the inside of the strait itself. Sending ships into the strait would need a fresh vote in parliament.

Seoul says the wider patrol is needed because piracy off Somalia is rising again. Reported attacks have climbed from 11 last year to 36 so far this year, the defence ministry said, partly because warships from other countries have moved toward Hormuz and the Red Sea. The ministry's line is simple: the job is to guard its own ships and its own trade.

Not everyone at home buys that. Opposition MPs say this is a troop deployment by another name. Kim Joon-hyung, floor leader of the small left-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party, called it "a deceptive workaround" and warned that if Trump boasts South Korea was the first country to send troops, "we would become the first country to join the Middle East war". He also warned the wider patrol could draw Iranian retaliation, even without combat.

The Cheonghae unit has guarded shipping in the Gulf of Aden since 2009. Its latest crew sailed from Busan on 2 October aboard the 4,400-tonne destroyer Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin, with a helicopter and about 300 sailors. The new plan goes to cabinet next week, then to the National Assembly for a vote.

It matters here too. Most of the oil Pakistan buys comes from the Gulf, and it all passes through Hormuz, so anything that keeps the lane open matters for fuel prices at home. Seoul's move is small and stays outside the strait, but it is the first Asian navy to step toward the waterway since the war began. Two tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the strait on Thursday, a reminder of how tense the waterway already is. Petrol fell to Rs362 a litre in Pakistan this week, and any fresh trouble at Hormuz would put that price back under pressure.

• Operating radius: about 1,930km, roughly double the current reach
• Personnel: 320 to 395, with 75 more sailors and aircrew
• Piracy reports off Somalia: 11 last year, 36 so far this year
• Duqm in Oman: about 650km from the Strait of Hormuz
• New mandate: to 31 December 2027, if parliament approves

Sources

• Al Jazeera: South Korea plans to expand anti-piracy operations closer to Hormuz Strait
• Reuters: South Korea to expand anti-piracy unit operations closer to Strait of Hormuz
• Yonhap: S. Korea to expand anti-piracy mission closer to Hormuz, send more naval assets
• The Korea Herald: S. Korea to expand anti-piracy mission closer to Hormuz, send more naval assets

What happens next: the plan goes to cabinet next week, then to parliament, where the vote will show how much backing Seoul's first step toward Hormuz really has.

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