SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul produces the day's most structured analysis. The Korea Herald runs a column by Wang Son-taek titled 'A hope for a Hormuz coalition' that dismantles the 'Trump style' of negotiation: maximalist demands, coercive pressure, personal bargaining theatrics, periodic signals of conciliation. The author identifies five structural errors in the American approach — overestimation of American and Israeli coercive capacity, underestimation of Iran's historical resilience and distrust of Washington, neglect of the strategic weight of Hormuz, neglect of the harsh realities of war, and underestimation of alliances and multilateral legitimacy. The core thesis: Iran will never accept terms equivalent to political surrender, and Trump refuses any deal that would not visibly look like a victory. Korea Times documents the strikes in parallel with restraint: 'Iranian drone attack hits Kuwait airport, wounding people'. The South Korean perspective thus combines regional pragmatism with frontal critique — Seoul, an economy hyper-dependent on oil, cannot afford a prolonged Hormuz closure and proposes a multilateral response, a 'Hormuz coalition' bringing together consumer and producer countries. The proposal is rare in the global media landscape — most capitals wait for Washington to decide. Seoul, by contrast, suggests Washington no longer has a monopoly on the solution.