Cho Hyun: "Difficult to Answer Whether U.S. Has Officially Requested Troop Dispatch to Hormuz"... Says Issue Cannot Be Resolved Through UN

According to The Financial News, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea on the 17th that it was difficult for him to say whether the United States of America (U.S.) had formally requested the deployment of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (ROK Armed Forces) to the Strait of Hormuz in Iran. Cho noted that he had held a telephone call on the 16th with Marco Rubio of the United States Department of State (State Department) regarding security in the Strait of Hormuz. However, he drew a line, stressing that it was hard to conclude that this call itself constituted an official request for troop deployment.
Appearing before the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea that day, Cho said, "It is difficult for me to answer whether there have been discussions with the U.S. side on the deployment itself." He added that he has been invited to the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be held near Paris on the 23rd, where he plans to meet Marco Rubio for follow-up talks.
Cho repeatedly avoided giving a direct answer to questions from both ruling and opposition lawmakers on whether there had been an official request for deployment. "This coincides with an extremely sensitive period," he said, adding, "The public’s right to know is very important, but if necessary, I will provide separate briefings to lawmakers for the time being."
Cho also explained that it would be difficult in practice to resolve the U.S. troop deployment issue through the United Nations (UN), as some lawmakers had proposed. "We will act in accordance with the Constitution and the law," he stated. "Making use of the UN is, in practical terms, not really on the table at the moment. For now, our options are limited."
According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), 26 Korean vessels are currently stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, including 9 oil tankers. A total of 183 Korean crew members are on board these ships. During the session of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, some argued that sending a naval vessel to protect Korean nationals trapped in Hormuz would not amount to participation in war or combat, and therefore would not require parliamentary ratification. In addition, Cho said he could not disclose, for security reasons, any details regarding a possible transfer of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) or MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system units operated by United States Forces Korea (USFK) from the Korean Peninsula to the Middle East.
rainman@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-soo Reporter