South Korean activists protest potential Hormuz deployment outside Camp Humphreys

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korean activists gathered outside the largest U.S. military installation overseas this week to protest a potential deployment of South Korean forces to the Strait of Hormuz and accuse Washington of pressuring Seoul to join the conflict with Iran.

About 25 protesters assembled Monday outside Camp Humphreys’ Yoon Gate, about 40 miles south of Seoul. The group included Pyeongtaek residents and members of political parties, civil society groups and religious organizations.

The protest came after South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense sent an “on-site assessment team” to the Middle East last week to evaluate conditions around the Strait of Hormuz. Seoul says no decision has been made to deploy troops and has denied claims that Washington gave it a deadline to send military assets.

It is “utterly baffling” that the government is considering sending troops to the Middle East “without a word of objection — and without even explaining the justification for doing so to the public,” Kim Jae-yeon, chairwoman of the Progressive Party’s Pyeongtaek City Chapter, said at the protest.

Pastor Park Jeong-in called on Washington to stop “pressuring South Korea to deploy troops for an unjust war of aggression in the name of the alliance.”

“The lives and safety of a sovereign nation’s citizens must not be treated as mere tools to serve U.S. military interests,” he said.

A Sept. 8 text message from an unnamed Ministry of National Defense spokesman told reporters that the assessment team was dispatched to “gauge the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The team is evaluating the region’s political climate and security conditions, and its visit does not presume an eventual troop deployment, the message said. The spokesman also denied claims that the United States had asked South Korea to deploy assets to the strait by a specific deadline.

South Korea is “in close consultation with the international community — including the U.S. — regarding measures to make a substantive contribution toward the swift restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the peace and stability of the Middle East,” ministry spokeswoman Chung Binna said at a Sept. 7 briefing in Seoul.

No specific plans for deploying troops have been decided, she said.

The protesters said in a statement Monday that South Korea should not send military forces to the strait under any circumstances, including to provide “noncombatant support.”

They also argued that yielding to U.S. pressure would undermine South Korea’s pursuit of self-reliant defense and independent diplomacy.

U.S. Forces Korea spokespeople Kim Eun-chong and Choi Min-jung did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.

A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman also did not respond Tuesday to a text message seeking comment.