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Why Trump’s Hormuz rebuke won’t derail South Korea’s ‘very strong’ alliance with US

US President Donald Trump’s public rebuke of South Korea for refusing to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz is an uncomfortable moment for a…

By Samantha Johnson / April 10, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s public rebuke of South Korea for refusing to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz is an uncomfortable moment for a 70-year alliance, piling fresh pressure on a Seoul government already uneasy about Washington’s appetite for confrontation in the Middle East.

But analysts believe the relationship can withstand the strain, pointing to deep institutional ties between the two militaries, broad elite and public support in both capitals, and the reluctance of other US allies to back Trump’s campaign against Iran.

The assessment came after Trump targeted Seoul for declining to send warships to help reopen the strait, which Tehran blockaded in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28, choking off a waterway that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

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At a White House event last week, Trump told reporters that European and Asian governments – not Washington – should be policing the chokepoint.

“Let South Korea, who was not helpful to us, by the way – we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force. Let South Korea do it,” Trump said on April 1.

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Trump is said to have inflated the number of US troops in South Korea, which stands at 28,500.

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