South Koreans Protest Deployment to Strait of Hormuz — SkimNews
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- Protesters (around 60 per an AFP estimate) rallied outside Seoul's Sejong Center on Sep 9, chanting "We cannot send our young people into a sea of death!" and holding signs reading "Do not join a war of aggression"
- South Korean defense authorities sent a fact-finding mission to the Strait of Hormuz on Sep 8, stressing no deployment decision had been made while considering "contributions" to US security efforts
- Iran has warned that any South Korean deployment would be "regarded as direct support for the party responsible for that aggression and will have serious consequences"
- Jung Kyung-jik of People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy told AFP that US attacks on an elementary school and energy infrastructure constitute violations of international law
- Choi Young-ok of Korean Peace Solidarity for Sovereignty and Reunification warned that a deployment would "inevitably lead to casualties"
- Trump has pressed South Korea to help in the war as Iran maintains a stranglehold on the strait, which served as the conduit for one-fifth of the world's oil supply before the conflict
- Any armed-forces deployment would require approval by a majority vote in South Korea's National Assembly
Why it matters: South Korea's parliament must approve any troop deployment by majority vote, and organized street opposition is now visibly aligned with Tehran's warning — so even if Seoul wanted to contribute to Trump's Middle East coalition, the domestic political cost is rising before any decision is made.
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