DP's Park Jie-won breaks ranks to back Hormuz deployment

Rep. Park Jie-won of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) said Monday that a limited noncombat mission to the Strait of Hormuz may be unavoidable to protect Korean ships and manage relations with the United States.

Park is the only DP lawmaker to have publicly backed a deployment. Seoul is weighing one under sustained public pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, and the Blue House says nothing has been decided.

The government is considering sending about 50 personnel with a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and an explosive ordnance disposal team while leaving out a naval logistics support ship, SBS reported Sunday. An earlier plan that kept the ship would have required roughly 150.

"Iran says it regards this as war, but we have to look at protecting our ships in the Strait of Hormuz and at our relationship with the United States," Park said on a SBS radio program on Monday. "If they are noncombat units, we have no choice but to deploy to some extent. I acknowledge that this is unavoidable."

"On the specifics, the government needs to coordinate closely with the United States," Park said. "We cannot simply reject a deployment outright. But even if we deploy, sending combat units could create problems later. It needs to be carefully reviewed."

Park also opposed supplying Korea's own air defense weapons directly to Ukraine when asked about discussion in Washington of sending them to Kyiv. Trump on Friday shared without comment a Washington Post column that urged him to press Seoul to sell Ukraine the Cheongung-II, also known as M-SAM II, a domestically developed medium-range surface-to-air missile system.

"Judging by the way President Trump operates, that could happen," Park said. "But from the beginning we have not directly supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine."

Korea has declined to send lethal weapons to Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. The Blue House reaffirmed that position at the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7.

"If Poland or the United States imports our weapons and then gives them to Ukraine, there is little we can do about that," Park said. "But we have never directly exported weapons such as the Cheongung-II [to Ukraine]. It would be difficult for us to do so this time except through that kind of route."

Park said Iran's warning that it would treat a Korean deployment as participation in the war was understandable from Tehran's perspective.

"From Iran's point of view, it probably has little choice but to take that position," he said.

"Past issues involving economic sanctions remain unresolved, so Iran may take a somewhat tougher line," Park said. "But we have our own circumstances to consider, and there is our relationship with the United States, so I think this can be handled well."

The Rebuilding Korea Party, the Progressive Party and the Justice Party, along with civic groups, have opposed a deployment. Some DP members have also argued that sending troops would violate Article 5 of the Constitution, under which Korea pledges to work for international peace and renounces all aggressive wars.

Park said the objections inside the liberal bloc deserved a hearing. "We have to fully understand the position of those on our own side who cannot help but oppose it," he said. "But above all, this is about our relationship with the United States and the national interest. It is a difficult problem, and we have to resolve it well."

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]