South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung has firmly ruled out sending troops to participate in any combat in the Middle East, but his government is carefully distinguishing that position from an outright rejection of US requests for military cooperation in the region. Speaking at a nationally televised press conference in Seoul on Friday, Lee said: "There won't be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly. We won't deploy military assets in any form to that end."

The statement came in response to mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has criticised South Korea for what he called insufficient support for Washington's military campaign against Iran and scaled back major joint military exercises between the two allies this summer — a move that unsettled Seoul. However, the South Korean presidential office, known as Cheong Wa Dae, moved quickly to clarify that Lee's remarks did not constitute a refusal of Trump's specific request for Seoul to contribute forces to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which a significant share of the world's oil passes. "The government has been reviewing practical ways to contribute in close communication with the international community, including the United States, in order to protect our citizens and safeguard national interests," a presidential official told reporters.

Lee himself signalled room for a more limited naval role, noting that South Korea already operates the Cheonghae Unit — a naval anti-piracy contingent deployed off the coast of Somalia — and is reviewing ways to expand that mission to protect commercial shipping and crude oil supplies critical to the South Korean economy. South Korea's foreign minister also reaffirmed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Seoul's willingness to contribute substantively to restoring freedom of navigation through the Hormuz Strait, according to the foreign ministry.

The episode illustrates the delicate balancing act Seoul faces: maintaining a treaty alliance with Washington while avoiding being drawn into a conflict that polls suggest is deeply unpopular at home. The idea of a Hormuz deployment has met significant domestic resistance in South Korea. Alongside the military question, Lee noted that trade negotiations with Washington remain unresolved, with South Korea having committed last year to invest 350 billion dollars in US manufacturing in exchange for a 15 percent tariff rate on Korean imports — a deal whose commercial terms Lee described as still difficult to finalise. He also said a Trump–Kim Jong-un summit was possible in the coming months, though many conditions would need to align.