Asia11 September, 20262 min read
South Korea’s Cho Hyun Calls Iran’s Abbas Araghchi Over Strait of Hormuz Security
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Foreign Ministers Cho Hyun and Abbas Araghchi discussed the Hormuz Strait situation. Seoul weighing deployment of military assets to protect the Hormuz route.
16 outlets told this the same way.
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Cho and Araghchi Call
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Friday about “the current situation in the Middle East” and the Strait of Hormuz, Seoul said, days after it confirmed it was weighing a “contribution” to the waterway’s security. Seoul said Cho expressed deep concern and told Araghchi that South Korea maintains the position that "free and safe passage must be guaranteed for all vessels including ours in the Strait of Hormuz".
The call came after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei warned in Korean that Seoul’s military participation in the Gulf could have "serious consequences," saying foreign military involvement could be viewed as direct support for U.S. actions against Iran. Seoul also said it had sent a fact-finding team to the United Arab Emirates earlier this week to assess security conditions and possible operating environments, and that the team was expected to brief the National Security Council on its findings soon.
Public Split and Warnings
As Seoul weighed a possible deployment, a National Barometer Survey released on Thursday showed 45 percent of respondents opposed sending maritime patrol aircraft or a logistics support ship to the Strait of Hormuz, compared with 36 percent who supported the move.
Aju Press reported that opposition rose to 55 percent among supporters of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), and it said Rep. Jin Seong-joon of the DP, chairman of the National Assembly's defense committee, disputed reports that the Defense Ministry was lobbying lawmakers.
Jin wrote on Facebook, "The Defense Ministry has never tried to persuade me of the need to deploy troops to the Strait of Hormuz," as Seoul continued to stress that no decision had been made.
In parallel, Reuters reported that a spokeswoman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said any South Korean military presence or participation in operations in the Gulf and the Hormuz Strait would be regarded as support for American aggression and would have serious consequences.
Assessment, Options, and Trade
A Korean government team tasked with assessing the security situation near the Strait of Hormuz returned from the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, sources said, as Seoul cautiously weighed a potential military deployment amid U.S. pressure. The Korea Times said the team, consisting of defense and foreign ministry officials, arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, and that it was obliged to report the result of the mission to the National Security Council.
Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, told MBC Radio on Thursday that "If deployment was not an option, we could have technological assistance," while the defense ministry stressed the dispatch did not mean deployment would follow. Beyond Seoul’s deliberations, Punch Newspapers said traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had been virtually paralysed since the US-Iran war began on February 28, disrupting global energy markets, and it cited Kpler data that the number of commodity vessels sailing through the strait totaled seven on Monday compared with eight on the previous day.