Deployment could risk Iranian retaliation as South Korea plans to expand anti-piracy operations closer to Hormuz Strait

Proposed patrol expansion

The Ministry of National Defense said South Korea plans to extend anti-piracy patrols beyond waters off Somalia to an area closer to the Hormuz Strait. The Cheonghae unit would move northeast into the Arabian Sea, south of Oman.

The proposed change would roughly double the unit’s operating radius to about 1,930km (1,200 miles), officials told Yonhap. The cabinet is expected to endorse the motion next week before it goes to lawmakers, Yonhap reported.

Limits on the mission

Officials told Yonhap the expanded mission would be strictly noncombat, with the unit remaining under South Korean command and operating independently of allied forces. A South Korean official said patrols would be confined to open waters south of Oman. Maritime patrol aircraft would not target or monitor Iranian territory, territorial waters or the interior of the Hormuz Strait.

Debate over deployment risks

Kim Joon-hyung, floor leader of the left-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party, called the expanded operational area a troop deployment at a news conference in Seoul on Wednesday. He warned that South Korean forces could face Iranian retaliation even if they did not take part in combat.