S. Korean president rules out troop deployment

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday firmly ruled out any troop deployment to engage in war in the Strait of Hormuz.



"There will be no deployment that engages or intervenes in the war," Lee said during a press conference.



Lee said South Korea consistently maintained the principle that there would be no deployment of military assets in such a form, stressing that Seoul will remain unchanged in the future.



The president, however, clarified that his country should undertake minimal activities to protect its commercial ships, crude oil transport routes, and the lives and safety of South Korean citizens, just as other countries do.



He explained that the government was carefully considering ways to strengthen the existing operations, in which a military unit was already deployed and responding to threats to public safety.



Lee said there seemed to be worries that it might amount to a deployment involved in or supporting the war, but he emphasized that there will be no deployment for the war.