Defense experts say the answer lies not in the ship's structural strength, but in the missiles' limited performance.
The question arose after Seoul announced Wednesday that the two unidentified projectiles that struck the South Korean vessel were likely Noor-class anti-ship missiles, developed and produced by Iran.
“For now, multiple pieces of evidence point toward Iran,” First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo said at a briefing.
The Noor is a mainstay of Iran’s anti-ship arsenal, developed in the early 2000s by reverse-engineering the Chinese-made C-802 cruise missile.
The weapon uses “sea-skimming” technology, flying just 5 to 15 meters above the water’s surface to evade radar detection. Investigators said this low-altitude flight profile aligns with the damage sustained by the HMM Namu, which was reportedly struck near the waterline on the lower section of its hull.
Experts cautioned, however, against interpreting the absence of casualties and the relatively limited damage as evidence that the Chinese-built container ship possessed exceptional defensive capability.
Jeong Kyung-woon, a researcher at the Korea Military Affairs Institute, said standard anti-ship cruise missiles are designed to sink warships with compartmentalized structures and typically carry warheads containing around 450 kilograms of explosives.
“If an ordinary commercial vessel were hit by two such missiles, it would be torn apart,” Jeong said.
He said the scale of damage to the Namu suggests the missiles may have carried warheads with only a fraction of the typical explosive power.
“The level of damage seen on the Namu appears normal, considering that the warhead of the Iranian anti-ship missile is estimated to have had about one-tenth the power of a standard anti-ship cruise missile,” he said.
Jeong added that merchant ships are generally designed for cargo transport and safe navigation, not to withstand missile strikes.
The Noor missile has repeatedly drawn attention from military analysts and foreign media because of its past use by Iran-backed groups. It is often cited in connection with the 2006 attack on the Israeli Navy corvette INS Hanit off the coast of Lebanon, when Hezbollah reportedly used an Iranian-supplied anti-ship missile to strike the vessel.
The British military journal Wavell Room has also described the Noor as part of what it called the “Houthi model” of proxy warfare, pointing to Iran’s long-running transfer of missiles and components to members of its so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including groups in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Kim Houng-yu, a member of the Korea Defense Industry Association, offered a similar assessment, saying the limited damage was more likely due to shortcomings in the missile system than the ship’s strength.
“One of the two missiles did not explode,” Kim said, noting that a warhead must detonate properly through its fuse to achieve its intended destructive effect.
“Since Iran faces severe restrictions on importing military hardware or securing proper supply chains, it is highly probable they are relying on crude, locally produced alternatives manufactured in makeshift facilities,” Kim explained. “In my view, it was not that the ship was strong enough to withstand the strike, but that the missile’s performance was fundamentally deficient.”
Following the announcement, Park summoned Iranian Ambassador to South Korea Saeed Koozechi to the Foreign Ministry in Seoul later Wednesday.
However, Park also acknowledged the difficulty of determining whether the attack was intentional, saying it would be “extremely difficult” to establish intent unless Iran itself acknowledges it.
Koozechi expressed regret over the damage to the Korean vessel but denied any Iranian involvement.
“I would like to express regret over the damage suffered by the Korean vessel,” he told reporters. But when asked whether Iran would apologize, he said Tehran “denies everything” related to the incident and had “absolutely no involvement.”
The remarks suggested that Seoul is not yet able to specify whether the strike was conducted by Iran’s regular military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Houthi rebels or other Iran-backed militia groups.
The ministry also stressed that the government’s response would take into account the safety of Korean vessels and crew members still operating near the Strait of Hormuz, the protection of Korean nationals and companies in the Middle East, energy supply chain stability and broader South Korea-Iran relations.
“At the time of the incident, military tensions around the Strait of Hormuz were extremely high, and vessels from other countries, including China and France, were also attacked around the same time,” Park said. “The government will respond while taking those circumstances into account.”
The case comes as South Korea continues diplomatic efforts to ensure the safe passage of Korean-linked vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime route for global energy shipments.
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