SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul, May 28, 2026. The four dispatches published by Yonhap in a matter of hours convey the urgency felt by South Korea in the face of the Iran-US escalation: each update of the American position is transcribed in real-time, with particular emphasis on a single phrase from Donald Trump. 'The Strait of Hormuz will be open to everyone,' the US president declared, a formula that Seoul perceives less as a guarantee than as an admission of fragility.

South Korea imports around 60% of its crude oil from the Middle East, a proportion of which passes through the Strait of Hormuz. When Brent hits $97.83 a barrel – a 3.75% increase on May 28 alone – South Korean economic planners calculate the impact on trade balances and industrial costs of a country whose petrochemicals and shipbuilding form the backbone of its export-oriented economy.

Trump also stated that the US 'is not yet satisfied' with the ongoing negotiations with Tehran, while acknowledging that Iran is 'very determined to find an agreement.' This tension between the two positions – Washington holding back, Tehran pushing forward – is read in Seoul as a sign that the April 8, 2026 truce remains extremely fragile. The incident of May 27-28, with the interception of four Iranian drones and the strikes on the Bandar Abbas base followed by an IRGC response, constitutes the most serious escalation since the truce.

South Korean media do not take a clear stance on military responsibilities: Yonhap relays American facts without proper geopolitical analysis. What interests Seoul is the crisis exit mechanism – or its absence. Trump rejected the framework agreement on Ormuz proposed by Iranian negotiators, which South Korean analysts interpret as an additional risk of entanglement.

The reactivation of Kuwaiti air defenses is reported in passing, recalling that regional instability goes beyond the Washington-Tehran face-off. For an economy like South Korea's, with thousands of construction workers deployed in Gulf countries, each additional degree of escalation translates into concrete operational risk. Seoul implicitly calls for de-escalation, without publicly disavowing its American ally.