Japan and South Korea has opened up about their stance on sending their war ships to protect Gulf oil supplies on Donald Trump’s request.
According to TRT World, A senior Japanese policy adviser said on Sunday the threshold is "extremely high" for Tokyo to send its warships to help protect a shipping lane for oil in the Middle East, hours after Trump's call for other countries.
Takayuki Kobayashi, the policy chief of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said, “I regard the threshold as extremely high for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing Japanese laws. Legally speaking, we do not rule out the possibility, but given the current situation in which this conflict is ongoing, I believe this is something that must be considered with great caution.”
Sending its Self-Defence Forces abroad is politically sensitive in the officially pacifist Japan, as many voters support the US-imposed, war-renouncing 1947 constitution.
South Korea said on Sunday it was paying close attention to US President Donald Trump's call for Seoul and other countries to send warships to help protect oil supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
"We are closely monitoring President Trump's remarks on social media and will carefully consider the matter in close consultation with the United States," a South Korean presidential official told AFP.
Seoul was "comprehensively considering and exploring various measures... to ensure the safety of energy transport routes", the official said.
Like other Asian economies, South Korea relies heavily on energy imports, including through the Strait of Hormuz.
