650 Kilometres From Hormuz: Seoul Stretches Its Anti-Piracy Mission — Without Entering the Strait
South Korea’s anti-piracy sailors are about to work a long way from the waters they have patrolled for years. On Sunday Foreign Minister Cho Hyun left for France to join a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Marseille. The trip comes just days after Seoul decided to extend the operational area of the Cheonghae Unit from the Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman, near the Port of Duqm — roughly 650 kilometres from the Strait of Hormuz.
The unit has traditionally hunted pirates. The new reach would let it contribute to maritime surveillance and mine-clearing closer to one of the world’s most sensitive oil routes, while Seoul still refuses to join the fighting between the United States and Iran.
A possible conversation in Marseille
Cho will be in France from Sunday to Wednesday. The G7 meeting itself is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, and discussions are expected to cover the Middle East, the diversification of energy supplies and the safety of artificial intelligence. South Korea is attending at the invitation of France, which holds this year’s G7 presidency, after taking part in the first ministerial gathering in March. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said on Thursday that the aim was to deepen cooperation with G7 members and to underline South Korea’s role as a responsible member of the international community. Cho also plans separate talks with counterparts on bilateral ties, practical cooperation and regional security.
Whether he will sit down with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the question hanging over the visit. The State Department confirmed on Friday, US time, that Rubio would be in France from Sunday to Tuesday, which would make a first meeting since the American midterm elections — in which Republicans lost significant ground in both chambers of Congress — theoretically possible. As of Sunday noon, neither government had announced a schedule or a format. The two last met on 30 October on the sidelines of the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, where they discussed alliance issues, high-level exchanges and visa concerns.
Wider seas, independent command
A revised motion extending the Cheonghae Unit’s overseas deployment cleared a vice-ministerial meeting on Thursday. It also provides for reinforcements: a maritime patrol aircraft, explosive-ordnance-disposal personnel and unmanned mine-clearing equipment. Those additions would take the contingent beyond its old anti-piracy brief and toward surveillance and responses to possible mine threats.
The backdrop is a tense waterway. In March, US President Donald Trump called on South Korea and other countries to send naval vessels to help secure the strait, through which a large share of the world’s oil travels. On Friday, local time, he announced that US forces had carried out limited strikes against Iranian air-defence facilities.
Seoul has drawn a careful line. The Cheonghae Unit will stay under independent South Korean military command, and officials say any actual deployment into the Strait of Hormuz itself would need separate approval from the National Assembly. The government presents the expansion as a contribution to maritime security that stops short of combat.
A meeting with Rubio, if it happens, would also have other business on the table. Seoul and Washington have been at odds over South Korean investment in the United States, controversies involving the e-commerce company Coupang, and friction between intelligence channels. South Korea has also been seeking American cooperation on nuclear fuel for planned nuclear-powered submarines. Widening a naval mission that Washington has pressed allies to support is one way Seoul can show it is sharing more of the load — without saying yes to the strait.