Defense Ministry sends fact-finding team to Middle East, sparking debate over troop deployment

The return of a Defense Ministry fact-finding team dispatched to the Middle East to assess conditions around the Strait of Hormuz has drawn fresh attention to whether South Korea will send troops to the region. Experts are divided, with some analysts saying the government has already decided to deploy forces, while others argue the mission should still be seen as a step in verifying whether a deployment is appropriate.

Shin Bum-chul, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute and a former vice minister of national defense, said Saturday that "the government has already made up its mind to deploy troops and is now deliberating on the size and nature of the unit."

"Sending a fact-finding team means they went to examine specific matters such as basing locations and the related logistics, maintenance and security arrangements," Shin said. "If the government were simply at the stage of weighing whether to deploy at all, the defense attaché office on the ground would have been sufficient."

Yu Ji-hun, a research fellow at KIDA, offered a different reading. "This survey is less a preparation premised on deployment and more an effort to secure baseline data for policy decision-making," he said.

Yu went on to say that "if the findings show that local force-protection conditions, missile and drone threats, the strain on domestic readiness from a prolonged overseas deployment, and diplomatic costs are all significant, there is a possibility that the government could choose not only to scale back the deployment or adjust the mission, but to opt for a different form of contribution altogether."

On the choice of the UAE as the survey destination, Yu said its geographic proximity to the Strait of Hormuz and the relatively well-developed military and logistics infrastructure of a friendly nation made it a fitting location. The idea, he explained, is to examine whether South Korea could use the UAE as a rear base — rather than conducting combat operations directly on the Hormuz front line — and contribute through non-combat, defensive activities such as maritime surveillance, navigational safety, explosive ordnance disposal and logistical support.

"It is more accurate to view this not as a process of simply accepting the US request, but as one in which South Korea is independently determining the range of what it can accept, weighing its national interests, military burden, relations with Iran and readiness on the Korean Peninsula," Yu added.

The fact-finding team, which had departed for the UAE earlier, completed its survey and returned through Incheon International Airport on Thursday. The team slipped back into the country quietly, avoiding reporters waiting at the airport — a sign of how sensitively the government is handling the question of a Hormuz deployment. The delegation was said to include not only Defense Ministry officials but also working-level staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Under the Defense Ministry's regulations on overseas troop deployments, a fact-finding team dispatched to a candidate deployment site is required, upon its return, to compile a report on its activities and submit it to the National Security Council.

However, if the team's activities amounted to a simple review of on-the-ground conditions rather than a formal assessment, the process may not necessarily lead to a full policy decision on deployment. Vice Minister of National Defense Lee Du-hee previously told the National Assembly during a government interpellation session that "the fact-finding team's visit is not premised on a deployment or a preparation for one, but is a step to assess and review the overall situation."

Nevertheless, if US President Donald Trump continues to ratchet up pressure — including by publicly expressing dissatisfaction with South Korea's level of contribution related to the Strait of Hormuz — South Korea's diplomatic burden is expected to grow heavier over time.

Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, warned that "if the government's decision is delayed, there is no telling what disadvantages may follow in the security or trade domains," adding that "a prime example would be a possible delay in revising the nuclear cooperation agreement related to nuclear-powered submarines."