Amid an unexplained explosion involving a South Korean-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the government convened a countermeasure meeting and began securing crew safety and investigating the cause.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it held a meeting of the headquarters for the protection of overseas nationals at 12 a.m. on the 5th, chaired by Second Vice Minister Kim Jin-ah, with seven missions in the Middle East and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries participating.
At the meeting, the Vice Minister said, "We express deep concern that, for the first time since the outbreak of the Middle East war, damage has occurred to our ship inside the Strait of Hormuz," and noted, "It is important to be fully prepared so that we can swiftly take necessary measures at any time to protect the lives and safety of our seafarers."
Local missions communicated with host-country authorities to assist the crew and agreed to strengthen a coordination system for potential rescue operations.
According to the government announcement, at 8:40 p.m. on the 4th, a fire broke out with an explosion on the South Korean shipping company HMM's cargo ship HMM NAMU, which was staying in waters near the UAE inside the Strait of Hormuz. This is the first case of a South Korean vessel suffering direct damage in the area since the outbreak of the Middle East war. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but the government is leaving open the possibility that the ship was subjected to an armed attack and is determining the exact circumstances.