Wire reporting: (Reuters, via Al-Monitor)

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it intends to send the Cheonghae anti-piracy force into waters nearer the Strait of Hormuz and will ask the National Assembly to keep the Middle East mission going after it is scheduled to lapse at the end of 2026^2,3,4.

A ministry spokesperson endorsed Yonhap News Agency's account of the plan, Al-Monitor and Arab News reported, carrying the same Seoul dispatch^2,4,5. Middle East Eye published a shorter Yonhap summary of the ministry line³.

The cabinet and President Lee Jae Myung would also have to sign off. The expanded patrol zone would include waters off Oman's Duqm port, described as about 650 kilometers (403 miles) from the strait^2,4. Cheonghae has operated in the Gulf of Aden since 2009; YTN put its current mix at a 4,400-ton-class destroyer, a maritime helicopter, as many as three rigid-hull boats and about 300 personnel^2,4.

The Korea Herald, as cited in those reports, said Seoul would add a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and 75 people^2,4. The same accounts said the timing follows U.S. President Donald Trump pressing Seoul over the Iran war and cutting back major U.S.-South Korea joint drills this summer^2,4.

South Korea's Industry Ministry put 2025 Middle East oil at 70 percent of national supply, most of it moving through Hormuz^2,4. Lee said on Sept. 18 that he would not send forces in a way that could pull South Korea into fighting, while looking at a larger role in protecting shipping^2,4. The Guardian, citing an unnamed ministry official, reported the add-on would be non-combat, not under allied command, and that patrol aircraft would not be used to target or watch Iranian territory, Iranian waters or the inside of the strait¹.