The possibility of South Korea's military involvement in the Strait of Hormuz has continued to dominate the political arena, with a ranking government official stressing again that any decision would follow legal procedures.
"I believe that both domestic legal procedures and social consensus must be taken into account," said Park Yoon-joo, first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday at the interpellation session in response to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Kwang-jae's question as to whether Seoul was aware that any decision to deploy military forces to a foreign country would require the Assembly's consent.
Local media reports have suggested that Seoul was weighing deployment of military forces, amid pressure from US President Donald Trump to contribute to ensure security and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz as conflict between the US and Iran showed little sign of abating.
Asked how things are different between the 2003 deployment to Iraq and now, Park said, "troop deployment has not yet been finalized, so it is hard to draw relevant comparisons."
Criticism for Seoul's deployment to Strait of Hormuz abounds in South Korea's political arena, even from lawmakers of the liberal bloc such as Reps. Song Young-gil and Kim Byung-joo.
South Korea's Constitution stipulates that the country "shall endeavor to maintain international peace and shall renounce all aggressive wars." The Constitution also states that the National Assembly has the right to consent to the deployment of armed forces. At least a two-thirds of all lawmakers must vote in favor to gain the consent.
Asked if Seoul was in talks with Tokyo about Washington's deployment requests, Park said, "Rather than discussing the deployment of troops itself with Japan, we are currently at the stage of gauging the trends of the discussions taking place within Japan."
"Japan is closely monitoring the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Given that the freedom of navigation in the Strait is intimately linked to shipping and energy supply chains, Japan hopes for a swift restoration of order and is independently considering how it might contribute to that effort," Park added.
Seoul was coordinating with Tokyo to address the supply chain disruption posed by the conflict in the Middle East, Park said. "We are pursuing a two-track dialogue covering both the issue of exchanging stockpiles and the matter of securing energy supplies."
This marked the second day of the interpellation session of the National Assembly, which is scheduled to run through Monday.
Before the interpellation session, Rep. Lee Ju-hee of the Democratic Party told reporters Thursday that it is "premature for the National Assembly to discuss" the matter and the party's leadership has yet to make any discussions given sensitivity and gravity of the issue, while details about the US request for South Korea's contribution remain unknown.
Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said on the first day of the interpellation session in response to Democratic Party Rep. Kwak Sang-eon that no decisions have been made regarding any potential deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, adding Seoul was weighing various options for contribution to the freedom of navigation in the strait.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
