South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, has said he will not deploy the military to the Middle East in a way that could draw the country into conflict, resisting calls from Donald Trump to support his war in Iran.
“There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” Lee said at a news conference on Friday. “We won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.”
However, Lee added that he was reviewing whether to play a greater role in safeguarding navigation in the region. South Korea maintains a naval presence off the coast of Somalia as part of an anti-piracy mission.
“[It] is also clear that we must do the minimum as other countries do to protect our commercial shipping and crude shipments, and also the safety of our people,” he said.
Trump has criticised Seoul for what he called insufficient support for the Iran war and scaled back major joint military drills by the two countries’ armed forces this summer, a move that unsettled the US ally.
South Korea’s government has been reviewing a possible military deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, although the idea is proving unpopular domestically.
Asked about progress in reaching an agreement with the US on Seoul’s US investment commitments under its trade deal with Washington, Lee said concern over the commercial viability of the package was the main sticking point.
Lee said there were elements that were difficult for Seoul to accept, but that the two sides were nearing an agreement.
South Korea committed last year to invest $۳۵۰bn in US manufacturing in return for Washington lowering tariffs on Korean imports to ۱۵%.
Seoul this week postponed a parliamentary briefing on the investment plans, which is expected to take place next week instead.
The South Korean president also said it was possible that a meeting could take place in the coming months between Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, but many factors needed to align for that to happen.
“What’s clear is that President Trump wants talks, and I want him to as well, and we’re continuing coordination to make dialogue between the North and the US possible,” he said.
North Korean state media has so far remained largely silent on the repeated calls from Trump for such a meeting. Trump has been pushing aides for a meeting with Kim as soon as the autumn, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
