[Photo] Korean organizations join forces to oppose deployment to Strait of Hormuz

Representatives of 601 civic and social groups in Korea gathered on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul to oppose a potential deployment to the Strait of Hormuz and to condemn US pressure for deployments. (Kim Hye-yun/Hankyoreh)

Representatives of 601 civic and social groups spanning religious organizations, anti-war groups, women’s rights groups, human rights advocates and organized labor gathered in central Seoul on Wednesday to condemn the US for pressuring Korea to deploy troops to the Strait of Hormuz. The groups gathered on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts that afternoon to call on the Lee Jae Myung administration to reject US coercion. On Friday, the Blue House underscored the importance of freedom of navigation in the strait while clarifying that it was “still reviewing” the possibility of a deployment and that “nothing has been decided.”Then on Tuesday, the Ministry of National Defense dispatched a team to the Middle East to assess the situation on the ground there.Those gathered at Wednesday’s rally said that these moves “are hard to see as anything other than the first steps toward a deployment.”

Representatives of 601 civic and social groups in Korea gathered on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul to oppose a potential deployment to the Strait of Hormuz and to condemn US pressure for deployments. (Kim Hye-yun/Hankyoreh)