[COVER STORY] Wider Cheonghae mission may suck Korea into US war on Iran: expert

The possible expansion of the Cheonghae Unit’s operations toward the Strait of Hormuz could draw Korea into the Middle East conflict, even without direct combat involvement, a naval security expert warned. The government is reportedly considering extending the Navy unit’s operating area — from the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Oman — and adding maritime patrol aircraft. The proposal comes as President Lee Jae Myung has ruled out sending Korean forces to fight in the U.S.-Iran war while leaving open a greater role for the unit in protecting Korean ships. Yu Ji-hoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the distinction between protecting commercial vessels and supporting military operations would depend less on where the unit operates than on what it does. “Formally, this would be an expansion of an existing deployment, but in practice, it would also amount to an indirect military contribution to security around the Strait of Hormuz,” Yu said. He said maritime patrol aircraft could broaden the unit’s work beyond counterpiracy patrols and merchant s