[Column] Sending troops to Hormuz is nothing like sending them to Iraq

By Kim Jong-dae, former Justice Party lawmaker

Following sustained pressure from the US, Korea has begun seriously considering deploying non-combat forces to the Strait of Hormuz, such as a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, Soyang-class fast combat support ships (AOE-II), and minesweepers.
 
While the Blue House and the Ministry of National Defense are claiming that “no conclusive decisions have been made,” the administration has essentially begun the deployment process by dispatching a survey team to the US base in the United Arab Emirates and the US Navy base in Bahrain to assess ports and flight conditions.
 
For some, this situation evokes memories of the Zaytun division’s deployment to Iraq in 2003 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. They remember it as a painful decision intended to strengthen the Korea-US alliance and manage the North Korean nuclear issue.
 
However, the current situation could not be more different from 2003. The very nature of the Iraq deployment and the possible deployment to the Strait of Hormuz are vastly different, as are the expected outcomes. Trying to justify the quagmire we find ourselves in with the logic used back then is a dangerous attempt to use history as a form of self-deception.
 
First, the legitimacy and legal nature of the military actions are completely different. 

Although the justification for the 2003 deployment to Iraq was mired in intense controversy, it had at least the multilateral cover of UN Security Council Resolutions 1483 and 1511. The war also received formal authorization from the US Congress.
 
By contrast, the situation unfolding around the Strait of Hormuz today amounts to nothing more than a special military operation by the Donald Trump administration that has proceeded without even a UN resolution, let alone a formal declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force from the US Congress.

Then there’s the fact that unlike most other wars, the current conflict involving Iran is deeply unpopular among even the American public. If Korea sends troops, it would be putting our men and women in uniform on the front line of an illegal military operation with no basis in international law. 

Second, a deployment wouldn’t be part of a multilateral UN mission; it would be Korea sending its soldiers off to war all by itself. 

During the Iraq War, a multinational force consisting of troops from 14 countries, including the UK, Australia and Italy, was sent to the front line. But currently, most major countries across the world are putting their foot down when it comes to Trump’s impetuous military adventurism. 

Instead of taking directions from the US military, major players in the EU are independently carrying out their own mission to protect merchant and commercial vessels, known as Operation Aspides. Even Japan has said no to the US. 

Just imagine: The whole world has refused to fight the US’ battles for it, when Korea all of a sudden bows to Trump’s bullying and falls in line, sending its troops to stand alongside American forces. The diplomatic reputation and moral standing as a middle power we’ve spent decades building would come crashing down in an instant, and Korea would be reduced to an international laughing stock. 

Third, the notion of “non-combat support” is a fanciful fiction bandied about by people who know nothing about the military. 

Korea’s Zaytun Division was tasked with stabilization missions such as postwar reconstruction and civil operations following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. But right now, the Strait of Hormuz is an active combat zone where the sovereign state of Iran’s regular troops and its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps are standing at the ready with their finger on the trigger.

Moreover, you’d be hard-pressed to find a combat support ship or maritime patrol aircraft that can carry out a solo mission in today’s age of multispectrum warfare. Radar and sonar data collected by a patrol aircraft would be immediately handed over to the US Navy’s offensive assets, and a combat support ship would be a joint operational force refilling US warships with fuel and munitions. 

The moment that we are integrated into the US military’s command structure, Korea becomes a belligerent, and the surface-to-ship missiles, suicide drones and mines that line the Iranian coast and its strategic islands like Qeshm will be pointed at not just the US troops, but our commercial and oil vessels — hundreds of which traverse the strait each year. Korea could kiss goodbye to a crucial conduit for energy. 

Fourth, there’s the issue of class and how to ask an ally for something. 

While Roh was in office, George W. Bush’s request for assistance in Iraq was presented within the framework of a courteous consultation. Trump’s demand, on the other hand, is essentially blackmail. Should we really expect the US — which keeps making veiled threats about withdrawing troops from Korea and unilaterally cutting short joint exercises — to be satisfied, let alone grateful, if we send one measly ship?

Considering the fact that the US naval and air forces are scraping the bottom of the barrel for munitions, this all feels like a ploy to get Korea to wade into the conflict. But as soon as Korea gives an inch, it’s abundantly clear that the US will go on to demand destroyers, minesweepers, special forces and more. 

And even if Korea were to do as it’s told, there’s not a chance that Trump would cut Seoul any slack on tariff negotiations or ease up the pressure to invest in the US. Sending troops wouldn’t be an act of commitment to the alliance; it would be a vassal’s tribute meant to save face for Trump after a major bungle.  

The Strait of Hormuz is a quagmire that has “forever war” written all over it. It is not something that the Lee administration, facing its own slumping approval and domestic woes, has the political or military bandwidth to deal with. Lee would be mistaken for thinking he could justify a deployment to the strait by saying that Roh had done the same. 

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