SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - Iran's foreign ministry has reached for a Korean proverb to warn South Korea against expanding its naval footprint toward the Strait of Hormuz, cautioning that a sparrow trying to fly after a stork will end up with broken legs.
Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted the proverb on X on Thursday local time in both Korean and English, together with an illustration of the two birds. "A sparrow that tries to fly after a stork will eventually break its legs," he wrote, labeling the line a Korean proverb.
The warning that followed said any direct or indirect involvement in acts of aggression or in what he called "inhumane economic terrorism" against Iran, including the deployment of naval forces, military and logistical support equipment, and personnel, would be regarded as a hostile and unlawful act amounting to participation in the U.S. aggression against Iran. Baqaei wrote that such actions would violate Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and fall within the definition of aggression set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.
It was not the first time Baqaei had addressed South Korea in its own language. In September, he posted a statement in Korean on X warning that dangerous choices carry consequences, and that any country's military presence or participation in operations in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz would be regarded as direct support for an act of aggression.
The latest post came two days after South Korea's Cabinet approved a revised deployment plan that would roughly double the operational area of the Cheonghae Unit, the naval task force sent to the Gulf of Aden in 2009 to protect commercial shipping from pirates.
Under the plan, approved on Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung, the unit's zone would stretch from the Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman, about 650 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz at its closest point. The revision adds a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to be based in Djibouti, a 30-member explosive ordnance disposal team and unmanned mine-clearance assets, raising the deployment by 75 personnel to about 395. It requires National Assembly approval before taking effect.
The expansion comes as the United States and Israel have been at war with Iran since late February. The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes, has been effectively closed to commercial traffic for months, and U.S. President Donald Trump asked allies in March to send warships to help secure navigation in the waterway.
Baqaei had already singled out South Korea by name. At a regular briefing on Nov. 9, he said Seoul should avoid deploying forces to the region under the pretext of supporting the strait's reopening and avoid stepping into an already complicated situation. He noted that Iran and South Korea had maintained friendly relations for more than 60 years, but said Tehran hoped Seoul would not be seen as an accomplice in military aggression alongside the United States.
Park Doo-soon, spokesperson for South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing the following day that the government was strengthening the Cheonghae Unit's mission to protect its nationals and economic interests under a principle of non-involvement in the war, and that Seoul was in continuous communication with Iran and other countries concerned.
South Korea faced a similar bind in 2020, when it expanded the Cheonghae Unit's operational area toward the strait while staying out of a U.S.-led maritime coalition. The following year, Iran seized a South Korean tanker before eventually releasing it.
Park Sae-jin
Experienced journalist and editor at AJU PRESS specializing in multilingual news. I cover international diplomacy, geolpolitics, and policy, consistently delivering highly accurate, compelling reporting for a worldwide audience.
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