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The Blue House

The Blue House announced on Jan. 16 that plans for “protecting the lives and property of South Korean citizens and companies and ensuring safe and free passage for South Korean vessels in connection with the recent situation in the Middle East” were examined at a National Security Council (NSC) standing committee meeting that day. Analysts speculated that changes may be emerging in the Blue House’s attitude on the deployment of troops to the Strait of Hormuz.

The speculation can be traced to a reference in press materials distributed by the Blue House after the NSC meeting, which stated that “plans for ensuring the safe free passage of South Korean vessels were examined.” No such reference had been made in the announcement of NSC standing committee results on Jan. 9. At that time, the Blue House said the standing commission members had “examined plans for close cooperation with the international community so that tensions can be swiftly reduced and the situation stabilized in the Middle East region.” The prevailing view among observers in and around the Blue House was that South Korea was unlikely to send troops amid the rising tensions with the US and Iran trading drone attacks and missile launches.

But analysts said the reference to “plans for ensuring the same free passage of vessels” on Jan. 16 was a gesture toward the possible deployment of naval vessels. Indeed, plans for broadening the scope of the Cheonghae Anti-Piracy Unit’s operations from the Gulf of Aden to the nearby Strait of Hormuz have reportedly been under examination by the administration. In a regular briefing the same day, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Kim In-cheol said, “Nothing related to Hormuz has been discussed in the process of defense cost sharing negotiations [with the US].”

The Blue House also said on Jan. 16 that the standing committee members at the meeting had “discussed promoting the Korean Peninsula peace process by pursuing inter-Korean cooperation in a way that contributes to substantive progress with the North Korea-US denuclearization discussions this year.”

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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