South Korea to move anti-piracy unit closer to Strait of Hormuz
Seoul will ask parliament to send patrol aircraft and an ordnance disposal team to waters off Oman, and says the mission is strictly non-combat.
South Korea plans to send maritime patrol aircraft and an explosive ordnance disposal team to waters near the Strait of Hormuz. The defence ministry said on Thursday that it would expand the operating area of its Cheonghae anti-piracy naval unit, CNA, SBS News and The Guardian reported.
According to The Guardian, the government will put a motion to parliament extending the unit's area to waters near the port of Duqm in Oman, about 650km from the strait. President Lee Jae Myung and the cabinet must also approve it. The unit's Middle East deployment is authorised only until the end of this year, and the motion would extend it.
A defence ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the reinforcement was strictly for non-combat purposes and the unit would operate independently of allied forces. "The enhancement of the Cheonghae unit's mission is to protect our citizens and safeguard our economic interests," the official said. Operations would stay in the open waters south of Oman, he said, and the patrol aircraft would be barred from targeting or monitoring Iranian territory, territorial waters or the interior of the strait.
CNA and SBS, citing Yonhap News Agency, said the deployment would include a destroyer, a P-8 patrol aircraft, the disposal team, unmanned surface and underwater vessels, and remotely operated vehicles for underwater exploration. The Guardian cited the Korea Herald as reporting a P-8A aircraft and 75 extra personnel. Broadcaster YTN said the unit, based in the Gulf of Aden since 2009, has a 4,400-ton-class destroyer, a helicopter, up to three rigid-hull inflatable boats and about 300 service members.
The outlets framed the move differently. The Guardian linked it to pressure from Donald Trump, who has criticised Seoul for what he called insufficient support for the war in Iran and scaled back major joint military drills this summer. CNA and SBS put more weight on Seoul's position that it will not send troops to intervene militarily. In September Lee said: "We have upheld the principle of non-involvement and non-intervention in the war until now. And we will continue to uphold it going forward." Tehran has warned Seoul against any such deployment, CNA and SBS reported.
South Korea sourced 70 per cent of its oil from the Middle East in 2025, most of it shipped through Hormuz, The Guardian reported, citing the industry ministry. The US-Iran war that began on 28 February has disrupted traffic through the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil. SBS reported that the United States has blockaded Iranian ports, and US Central Command said last month it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz since the summer.
The announcement came as Iran's Revolutionary Guard said two oil tankers and a tugboat had caught fire. The IRGC told the Fars news agency that one large tanker struck a mine while using what it called an "illegal passageway" south of the strait, and that a supertanker was halted by a fire while leaving the eastern strait. A tugboat sent to fight that fire also caught alight. Fars also reported that the IRGC navy's electronic warfare unit had taken control of two US drones.
Sources: The Guardian, South Korea says it will expand naval operations closer to strait of Hormuz; CNA, South Korea to deploy military mission to help keep Hormuz open; SBS News, South Korea to patrol Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers reportedly hit mines.
