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Black smoke rises from oil facilities in Fujairah, in the UAE, attacked by Iran on March 14, 2026. (AP/Yonhap)

Seoul finds itself between a rock and a hard place after US President Donald Trump demanded that South Korea and four other countries deploy warships to defend shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz. While the Korean public is largely opposed to sending soldiers into extremely dangerous operations in the strait, Korea’s need to sort out tariff negotiations with the US raises the stakes of saying no.  
 
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others [. . .] will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat,” Trump posted on his official Truth Social account on Saturday (local time). 

Iran has blocked passage through the strait and laid mines in the area. Believing that it will take more than US military muscle alone to protect vessels in the strait, Trump is calling for the formation of a naval coalition and demanding that countries such as Korea and Japan join. 
 
Trump’s request has left the Korean government and Blue House flummoxed. 

“We are paying close attention to Trump’s remarks,” the Blue House stated on Sunday. “We will maintain close communication with the US and meticulously review the matter before making any decisions.”
 
If the US makes an official request for troop deployment, the Korean administration is expected to consider dispatching the Cheonghae naval unit, which combats piracy and conducts maritime security operations in the Gulf of Aden, to the strait.
 
In January 2020, during the first Trump administration, the US requested Korea’s participation in an international coalition to escort vessels in the Strait of Hormuz following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, a key commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Instead of joining the coalition, however, the Moon Jae-in administration expanded the Cheonghae Unit’s operational area from the Gulf of Aden to the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, assigning it the task of escorting Korean vessels.
 
While the Moon administration faced criticism at the time for not obtaining National Assembly approval for the expansion of the unit’s operational area, which had been explicitly designated as the Gulf of Aden, the government cited a clause in the original resolution stating that “in the event of contingencies requiring the protection of citizens, the designated maritime area may be expanded to include other waters as directed.”

Oil tankers sail in the Persian Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Ras al-Khaimah in the UAE, amid the ongoing war between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other on March 11, 2026. (Reuters/Yonhap)

 
However, the current situation is different. While Korea’s operation in 2020 was an independent one, Korea may now find itself as a part of an international coalition in far more dangerous conditions. The fundamentally different nature of the mission could make obtaining the National Assembly’s consent a must. 

“Participation in an international coalition is of a different magnitude from the expansion of the Cheonghae Unit’s operational area in 2020, meaning it will require approval by the National Assembly,” commented a high-ranking government official.
 
Participating in the coalition would also designate Iran as an adversary, which would come with its own diplomatic baggage. 

“As this war was unilaterally initiated by the US and Israel, there is controversy over whether it violates international law,” said Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification. 
 
The civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy released a statement the same day, condemning the potential deployment of Korean troops. “Deploying troops to the Strait of Hormuz and intervening in a war of aggression are direct violations of our Constitution and international law,” the group said. 
 
At the same time, Seoul is feeling the pressure from US tariff threats. Last week, the US announced that it was launching Section 301 investigations of 16 economies for manufacturing overcapacity. 

“While there’s little justification for dispatching Korean warships, it may be difficult to refuse outright given the pending tariff and security negotiations,” said Cho Seong-ryoul, a visiting professor of military studies at Kyungnam University
 
For now, South Korea is waiting to see how the other countries singled out by Trump will respond to the demand to deploy ships to the strait, with Thursday’s US-Japan summit in Washington likely to be closely watched by Seoul. 

“We will make a cautious decision while monitoring the situation in neighboring countries,” a senior Blue House official said. 

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter; Ko Han-sol, staff reporter; Jang Ye-ji, staff reporter

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