South Korea is still considering various options for a possible deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, including sending a maritime patrol aircraft, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told a parliamentary audit on Thursday, Reuters reported. Seoul was continuing discussions with Washington on the possible options, Wi said.

Source: Reuters

Wi made clear that a combat deployment was ruled out, in line with President Lee Jae Myung's earlier announcement. Lee has repeatedly said there will be no dispatch of troops that leads to involvement in a conflict, while Seoul would carry out the minimum necessary activities to protect its own merchant ships and oil shipping routes, Al Jazeera reported.

Source: Al Jazeera

What Seoul has been weighing

The options under review for months have centred on surveillance and support rather than fighting. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported that the government has considered expanding the operating area of the Cheonghae anti-piracy naval unit — which guards shipping off Somalia — toward the Gulf of Oman at the mouth of the strait, and adding a maritime patrol aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance. The unit's current parliamentary authorisation runs to December 31.

Source: Korea JoongAng Daily

In September, South Korea's presidential office said it was reviewing options including military measures to support freedom of navigation in the strait, while denying reports that a deployment had already been decided. "Nothing has been decided," an official said at the time, adding that domestic legal procedures and parliamentary approval would also have to be considered, Reuters reported.

The strait is one of the world's most important oil routes, and the war involving Iran has disrupted global shipping and oil supplies through it — which is why any Korean contribution matters beyond the peninsula: energy routes through Hormuz feed directly into fuel prices and the safety of the large South Asian and Punjabi workforce across the Gulf.

Thursday's remarks keep Seoul's position where it has been for months — willing to help guard shipping, in talks with Washington, but not signing up for a combat role, and with no final decision announced.