Seoul has yet to receive a formal request from Washington regarding troop deployment to the Middle East, though the two countries’ military authorities remain in close consultation, the defense minister said Tuesday. “We haven’t received any letter in an official capacity from the U.S. side yet, but we are closely coordinating and consulting under the table on various scenarios,” Ahn said during a parliamentary session, when asked if there were any changes to the government’s position on the dispatching of troops to the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump had called on U.S. allies, including Korea, and other countries affected by Iran’s attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, to “hopefully” send ships to keep the strait “open and safe,” in a posting on his Truth Social account on March 14. Korea currently operates the Cheonghae naval unit in the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operations, with the 4,400-ton class ROKS Dae Jo Yeong destroyer and some 260 personnel deployed. The defense ministry has claimed that the unit was unprepared for conducting missions in the Strait of Hormuz, and
