President Lee Jae-myung: 'No Troop Deployment into War'

At a press conference at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office on September 18, 2026, President Lee Jae-myung said that regarding the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime shipping route in the Middle East, South Korea will not dispatch combat troops to take part in or intervene in a war. "There will be no war deployment," the president reiterated.

However, President Lee said that, "like other countries, we must carry out the minimum activities needed to protect our commercial vessels, oil shipping routes, and the lives and safety of our citizens," adding that the government is reviewing a stronger role for the Cheonghae Unit, the naval escort unit currently carrying out anti-piracy and other security missions in distant waters.

The president said he had ordered a review of allowing South Korean commercial vessels to enter the Red Sea, noting that abandoning oil shipments over a low risk level would deal a heavy blow to the economy, and pledged to take responsibility for that decision himself.