Copy in clipboard...
South Korean groups protest US pressure to deploy troops to Hormuz
South Korean civil society groups gathered near the US Embassy in Seoul on Saturday to protest US President Donald Trump’s pressure on South Korea to deploy troops to the Strait of Hormuz.
The demonstrators, hochanted slogans opposing any military deployment, a day after President Lee Jae Myung reiterated that Seoul would not send troops to participate in the US war on Iran, BBC reported.
“There will be no involvement or intervention in the war. We will not deploy troops or military assets in that manner,” Lee told reporters at a press conference at the presidential Blue House on Friday.
Trump has openly criticized South Korea’s refusal to participate in the war against Iran and scaled back major joint military exercises between the two countries’ armies this summer.
Reports earlier this month said South Korea was considering deploying military assets to the Strait of Hormuz, which has remained under Iranian control since the early stages of the US-Israeli war against Iran in late February.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei warned on September 7 that any military presence by other countries in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz would amount to direct support for the aggressor and carry serious consequences.
Iran restricted transit through the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli aggression that began on February 28.