South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that Seoul would not deploy troops in any way that would draw it into a war. US President 
Donald Trump has publicly pressed South Korea to contribute to efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, making Seoul's response a point of tension between the allies, the Korea Times reported.
What did Lee say? Lee, whose remarks Yonhap reported from the nationally televised news conference at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, said "there will be no dispatch of troops that engages or intervenes in a war." He said the Cheonghae Unit was already deployed to the region to counter piracy and other threats to the safety of Koreans, and that Seoul was reviewing ways to strengthen that role. Lee also said a resumption of dialogue between North Korea's Kim and Trump could not be ruled out. The strengthened role is meant to protect Korean commercial vessels, oil shipping routes and citizens, the Korea Times reported.
Did Seoul reject Trump's request? The presidential office, which Yonhap reported was responding to a New York Times report that Lee's comments amounted to a rejection, said Saturday that the remarks were not a refusal of Trump's request for Seoul to send forces to the Strait of Hormuz. "Lee did not turn down Trump's request for South Korea's cooperation on Middle East-related issues during yesterday's press conference," a presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity. The official said Seoul would keep examining concrete options under its principle of not intervening in a war or combat.
What does a US expert say? Scott Snyder, president and CEO of the Korea Economic Institute of America, told the Korea Times that Lee's proposal was "a realistic and constructive offer from South Korea, but by President Trump's logic such a limited contribution may not pass muster." Snyder said South Korea's contributions after earlier US requests in Iraq and Afghanistan were largely tied to UN-backed post-conflict stabilization rather than bilateral participation in an active conflict. He said the situation in the strait "remains dynamic and unpredictable" and that protecting commercial shipping alone may not be feasible under some conditions or sufficient to meet US expectations. Seoul's potential contribution is "one source of strain and misunderstanding based on President Trump's tweet, but it may not be the core issue," Snyder said.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
