The following is a statement issued at the weekly demonstrations held by the People’s Democracy Party and anti-US groups in front of the US Embassy in Seoul.
[PDP Joint Statement] We Strongly Oppose the Dispatch of Troops to the Strait of Hormuz, Which Calls for War in the ‘ROK’
Is the Lee Jae-myung regime really going to dispatch troops after all? After officially announcing the discussion of a “military contribution” on August 17, US President Trump expressed his dissatisfaction regarding the war with Iran on August 30, and on September 4, he pressured the ‘ROK’ to provide “Cheongung-2.” On the same day, participants at a civil society meeting called for “absolutely no troop deployment,” but President Lee Jae-myung made the reckless remark that “it is difficult to just ignore it because there are interests involved,” thereby revealing for himself the pretext for troop deployment. Contrary to the external position that “nothing has been decided,” on the 8th, the Ministry of National Defense dispatched a field inspection team to the United Arab Emirates and specifically selected a list of military assets, including maritime patrol aircraft, an explosive ordnance disposal team, and unmanned mine-detection equipment. At the summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, he officially announced “multinational mission cooperation in the Strait of Hormuz,” and even concluded an “amendment protocol to the military secret information protection agreement,” proceeding full steam ahead with the deployment of troops.
On the 7th, the Iranian Foreign Ministry officially stated that “military deployment in the Persian Gulf will be regarded as directly supporting the aggressor and will result in serious consequences.” This statement, issued specifically in Korean language, demonstrates the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s firm determination to respond. Hezbollah also issued a stern warning that “participation in multinational forces is a criminal conspiracy directly taking part in the imperialist war of aggression and will become a legitimate target.” If troops are actually deployed, it is self-evident that the lives of the deployed soldiers will be placed under extreme threat. Meanwhile, with even the key shipping route for ‘ROK’ crude oil tankers under threat, forcing through a troop deployment is a reckless rush that will drive energy security and economy of the people into catastrophe. What on earth is the reason for forcing through a troop deployment at the cost of destroying the 64-year friendship with Iran, provoking military confrontation with the peoples of West Asia.
Today, wars are being expanded by imperialism, and battlefields are becoming converging. In July, when Ukrainian forces attacked an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, the Ukrainian battlefield and the West Asian battlefield converged. In addition, US imperialism, having greatly exhausted its weapons and assets on the West Asian and Eastern European fronts, is pressing the ‘ROK’ and Japan to deploy tactical nuclear intermediate-range missiles in order to fill the military capabilities in East Asia. The deployment of tactical nuclear missiles, by the decision alone, will become a decisive trigger for the outbreak of a war in the ‘ROK’ and in East Asia. At present, the dangerous US-Japan-‘ROK’ multi-domain joint military exercise “Freedom Edge” is underway in the waters east and south of Jeju, targeting the DPRK. This is by no means unrelated to the drive to dispatch troops to the Strait of Hormuz. The ‘ROK’ and East Asia, the world’s largest flashpoint region, are now facing an ever-escalating war crisis.
The Lee Jae-myung regime’s push to dispatch troops will bring about a war in the ‘ROK.’ More than 600 civil society organisations have already strongly called for its rejection. Public opposition to the troop deployment is overwhelming, and even within the ruling camp, it is pointed out that it “has less justification than deployment in the Iraq War and is a security self-harm that will drag us into the Middle East war.” The DPRK is a close ally of Iran along with Russia. With the addition of direct troop deployment to the export of weapons of aggression, support for the war in Ukraine, and war exercises for the invasion of the DPRK, a war in the ‘ROK’ is entering the countdown. The political crisis of the government, with its approval rating in the 30-percent range, is highly likely to further escalate the war crisis, just as previous anti-popular regimes throughout history have done. The Lee Jae-myung government must prove for itself how it differs from the warmongering Yoon Suk-Yeol government. We firmly oppose the dispatch of troops to the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for a war in the ‘ROK.’ The anti-imperialist people’s uprising that will surely take place before long will put an end to imperialism, the root cause of war, and its war puppets, and bring forward a new world of peace, independence, and true democracy.
September 12, 2026
In front of the US Embassy, Gwanghwamun, Seoul
Anti-US Struggle Headquarters, 21st Century Che Guevara, People’s Democracy Party
