South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Friday that his country will not send troops into the war between the United States, Israel and Iran, after months of public complaints from President Trump that Seoul had not helped in the war. Speaking at a televised news conference at the Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) state guesthouse in Seoul, Lee told roughly 150 Korean and foreign reporters that South Korea would not send combat troops to the conflict or put its service members at risk under foreign command.
But in the same answer, Lee left a narrower door open. He said Seoul must still carry out “minimum” activities to protect its ships, oil routes and citizens, and that Seoul is reviewing ways to strengthen what the navy’s anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit already does in the region.
What he said
Translations of Lee’s remarks differ slightly between outlets, so his exact wording depends on who is quoting him. The Korea Herald and Korea Times both rendered one line the same way: “There will be no deployment that involves or intervenes in the war. I can state that clearly.” NBC News translated the same point somewhat differently: “There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” adding that “we won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.” That pledge rules out sending forces into the war itself; it does not rule out the narrower shipping-protection role described below.
On the narrower question of shipping protection, the Korea Herald quoted Lee saying, “It is also clear that, like other countries, we need to undertake the minimum activities necessary to protect our merchant ships and crude oil shipping routes, as well as the lives and safety of our citizens.” Lee said the Cheonghae Unit — which usually conducts anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia — already carries out related activities in the area, and that Seoul is reviewing ways to strengthen those efforts, according to the Korea Times and Korea JoongAng Daily. The Korea Times quoted him saying “it is true that we are reviewing and thinking about ways to strengthen (measures) on this.” Korea JoongAng Daily reported that any deployment specifically to the Strait of Hormuz would depend on the region, purpose and timing, and that expanding the unit’s operating area while keeping its existing mission designation would not require parliamentary approval, unlike a change to the mission’s nature itself.
The Korea Times paraphrased Lee as saying South Korea would not send combat troops or place its service members under foreign command in a way that could put them at risk. Korea JoongAng Daily quoted him making a similar point directly: there will be “no dispatch of combat troops, or placing Korean troops in danger by assigning them under foreign military command.” Korea JoongAng Daily also quoted him adding, of the no-deployment position, “We have upheld that principle so far, and it will remain unchanged.”
Why Seoul cannot simply stay out
Lee framed the carve-out around protecting ships, crude oil routes and citizens, and the numbers show why that matters to Seoul. About 70 percent of South Korea’s crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Korea Herald. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has said that in 2024, oil flow through the strait averaged 20 million barrels a day — about a fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption — and that China, India, Japan and South Korea were the top destinations for crude moving through Hormuz to Asia. Hormuz shipping has been severely disrupted since the war began, the Korea Herald has reported, though it is not clear whether South Korea’s import share has shifted since the conflict started.
The pressure behind it
Lee’s balancing act follows months of public criticism from President Trump. At a White House news conference on April 6, Trump said, “Japan didn’t help us. Australia didn’t help us. South Korea didn’t help us,” according to Stars and Stripes. Trump’s criticism of Seoul’s level of support coincided with him ordering the Pentagon to scale back joint military drills with South Korea over the summer, though the drills began on schedule.
At home, Lee faces pressure in the opposite direction. Korea JoongAng Daily reported on Sept. 9 that lawmakers from his own Democratic Party were pushing back against any deployment near Hormuz, with Rep. Lee Ki-heon reported as the first to publicly oppose it.
The precedent
Seoul has stretched the Cheonghae Unit’s reach before. The unit was first deployed in March 2009 to fight piracy near the Gulf of Aden. In January 2020, Seoul temporarily expanded its operating area to include the Strait of Hormuz — a move it made on its own, rather than as part of the U.S.-led coalition patrolling the strait at the time.
What happens next
Lee did not say which additional option, if any, Seoul would choose for the Cheonghae Unit, or when. A South Korean on-site team returned last week from the United Arab Emirates after assessing the Middle East safety situation — an “apparent sign of preparations for a possible military dispatch,” according to the Korea Times. Lee also said he had ordered officials to review whether South Korean merchant vessels could use the Red Sea route: “Giving up on crude oil transport due to low-level risks would deal a massive blow to the economy, so I instructed officials to consider entering the Red Sea,” he said, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. No decision on strengthening the Cheonghae Unit’s role has been announced, and no reaction from the U.S. government to Lee’s Sept. 18 remarks had surfaced as of Friday.