U.S. is pressing South Korea for Strait of Hormuz deployment decision by November, sources say
Parliamentary procedure means that Seoul should realistically reach a decision by the end of September for a deployment ratification bill to pass in time.
A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flies during a ceremony marking its delivery to the South Korean Navy at the Naval Air Command in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on July 4, 2024.JOINT PRESS CORPS
The United States has told South Korea it prefers a decision on deploying naval or air assets to the Strait of Hormuz by November at the latest, multiple sources said on Tuesday, adding pressure on Seoul to resolve the matter within the month, given how long parliamentary ratification typically takes.
The sources said that the government has been reviewing deployable assets and drafting a National Assembly ratification bill since receiving a request from the United States for military contributions in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year. The government also recently reportedly sent a reconnaissance team to the United Arab Emirates to prepare for a possible deployment.
Officials say that the government’s decision to bring the deployment option into public view this month is tied to the U.S. request to settle the matter by November. Given the time that it typically takes to process a ratification bill through the National Assembly, the government needs to formalize its deployment policy within September.
Past deployments to Iraq demonstrate how long that process can take. The bill to deploy the Seohee and Jema units, South Korea’s first in the conflict, was submitted on March 20, 2003, and passed nearly two weeks later on April 2. At the time, President Roh Moo-hyun said in a National Assembly policy address, “A firm South Korea-U.S. partnership is important for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. I hope that you will make the decision.”
A bill to deploy the Zaytun Division to Iraq, submitted in December of the same year, took seven weeks to pass amid deep public division, finally clearing the Assembly the following February. The Zaytun Division was a much larger deployment of 3,600 troops, and public opinion had grown more negative than ahead of the first deployment.
Based on that precedent, the calculation is that South Korea would need to begin the National Assembly process by around mid-September at the latest to meet a realistic deployment timeline. The government, however, maintains that ‘whether to deploy troops at all has not been decided."
The U.S. request for a decision by November appears calculated around securing an exit strategy for the Strait of Hormuz issue ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. With the conflict with Iran passing the six-month mark, prices — driven largely by oil — have surged, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen into the low 30 percent range, dragging down Republicans on the ballot nationwide and risking losing control of the U.S. Senate, the House or both.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok delivers his first floor speech as party leader at a plenary session of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Sept. 7.YONHAP
Seoul has also been rushing this month to resolve investment demands in the United States. After confirming the Encinal gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Texas as its first U.S. project, the government plans to finalize a considerable number of additional investment destinations within the month. That is seen as both a demonstration of Seoul's commitment to implementing its agreements with Washington and a strategic move to elicit U.S. reciprocity in negotiations over nuclear submarine fuel transfer and the transfer of wartime operational control.
With a possible North Korea-U.S. summit being discussed around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in mid-November, the calculation is also thought to be an attempt to secure a role in future discussions over North Korea policy.
After the report ran, the Ministry of National Defense pushed back on two of its claims. Responding to the report’s assertion that the United States wants a decision by November at the latest, the ministry said, “It is not true that the United States requested the dispatch of assets with a set deadline.” Addressing the report’s characterization of a reconnaissance team sent to the United Arab Emirates as preparation for a possible deployment, the ministry said, “The dispatch of an on-site assessment team is also meant to gauge the situation and stability on the ground and is not premised on a troop deployment.”
Update, Sept. 9, 2026: Added quotes from the Ministry of National Defense.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
