hankyoreh

US President Donald Trump. (Yonhap)

US President Donald Trump has once again strongly urged Korea, Japan and other nations to take part in an operation to defend ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has focused his pressure on countries with an active US military presence, directly naming Korea, Japan and Germany in an effort to persuade leaders to commit troops.

“We get less than 1% of our oil from the strait. And some countries get much more,” Trump stated in a press conference held on Monday (local time) at the White House ahead of a Kennedy Center board meeting. 

“Japan gets 95%. China gets 90%. Many of the Europeans get quite a bit,” he added, stressing that he hoped such nations would step up to help resolve the issue in the strait.

“For 40 years, we’re protecting you, and you don’t want to get involved in something that is very minor,” the president continued. He claimed some nations responded that they would “rather not get involved” when asked if they had any minesweepers. 

“We have the strongest military by far in the world; we don’t need them,” Trump said. “I’m almost doing it in some cases not because we need them [but] because I want to find out how they react.”

Trump has taken issue with the passive demeanor of US allies while ramping up the pressure. 

“Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic,” referring to his call on allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz.  

“The level of enthusiasm matters to me,” he added. 

Without specifying the country, the US president said, “We have some countries where we have 45,000 soldiers [. . .] protecting them from ⁠harm’s way and we have done a great job.”

“Why are we protecting countries that don’t protect us?” he asked, telling House Speaker Mike Johnson that he would relay a list of nations that have refused to help.

During a signing event at the White House that afternoon, Trump called out Korea by name. 

“You have to remember. We have 45,000 troops in Japan. We have 45,000 troops in South Korea. We have 45,000-50,000 troops in Germany,” he said. “We defend all these countries.”

Trump remarked that while the US has protected its allies for decades, they haven’t been there for the US. 

“I always said, but if it ever comes time to defend us, they’re not going to be there,” he said, saying that the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz was an illustration of that. 

The US only has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, but Trump has referred to the 45,000 number on multiple occasions. 

US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting of the board of the Kennedy Center, held at the White House East Room on March 16, 2026. (AP/Yonhap)

On the morning of the same day, Trump expressed optimism regarding the possibility of the UK and France dispatching forces. 

When a reporter asked if he’d spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron about a possible coalition in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump replied, “Yeah, I have spoken to him. He’s been, on a scale of zero to 10, I’d say he’s been an eight. Not perfect — but it’s France. We don’t expect perfect.”

“I think he’s going to help. I’ll let you know,” Trump said. 

Trump also indicated that he’d spoken with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer about ship deployment.

“He didn’t really want to do it,” Trump said. “I was not happy with the UK. I think they’ll be involved, but they should be involved enthusiastically. We’ve been protecting these countries for years with NATO.”

“Some are very enthusiastic, and some are less than enthusiastic,” Trump added. “And I assume some will not do it. I think we have one or two that will not do it that we’ve been protecting for about 40 years at tens of billions of dollars.”

When asked to name specific countries, Trump replied he would “rather not say yet.”

Trump claimed that the US military had destroyed 30 Iranian mine-laying vessels, but noted that it hasn’t been confirmed whether they had actually laid any mines.  

He said that any attempt to lay a mine would be “a form of suicide,” adding that shipowners won’t move their vessels if there’s the possibility of even one mine.  

On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social, calling on “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others” to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. 

The South Korean Foreign Ministry has announced that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Monday to request “cooperation to secure the long-term safety of the Hormuz Strait.” 

Regarding Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly selected supreme leader of Iran, Trump remarked on Monday, “We don’t know [. . .] if he’s dead or not. I will say that nobody has seen him, which is unusual.” 

“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg [. . .] and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead,” he added. 

Recent reports have suggested that Khamenei’s leg was injured during US-Israeli airstrikes, but Trump has indicated it’s possible that he’s lost a leg entirely. 

By Kim Won-chul, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]