SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

Seoul feels Trump's ultimatum at the gas pump before reading it in the papers. Gasoline prices breach 2,000 won per liter for the first time, and South Korean media translate Gulf geopolitics into daily-life impact: filling a family car now costs 120,000 won, up from 85,000 three months ago. South Korea, the world's fourth-largest oil importer, has zero room to maneuver. The strikes on Kharg Island and Jubail are covered as a twin threat to two of its main suppliers. Trump's ultimatum is met with an anxiety Korean media rarely express this openly: if the deadline passes without a deal and the Strait of Hormuz closes, South Korean strategic reserves last 90 days. After that, the petrochemical industry -- the backbone of the Korean economy with Samsung, LG, and SK -- shuts down. Trump's line about a civilization dying resonates differently in Seoul, where the memory of the Korean War makes the destruction of a civilization less abstract than in Washington.