[정치]Cheonghae unit Choi Young-ham arrives near Hormuz Strait… the government “must lift detention early

[앵커]

Choi Young-ship of the Cheonghae unit arrived near the Strait of Hormuz to respond to the capture of a Korean national carrier by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is requesting the Iranian authorities to lift early detention of Korean vessels captured by Iranian authorities.

We will connect the reporter over the phone to learn more. Reporter Kim Moon-kyung!

When did Choi Young-ham of the Cheonghae Corps arrive near the Strait of Hormuz?

[기자]

Yes, the Ministry of Defense said that the Cheonghae unit arrived in the waters near the Strait of Hormuz around 4 a.m. our time and began to carry out the mission.

Young-ship Choi was dispatched to the Strait of Hormuz yesterday after receiving the situation that the Korean national ship, the Korean Kemi, was captured by Iran while carrying out an operation in the waters south of the Port of Muscat in Oman.

Choi plans to respond to the situation in close cooperation with the Combined Naval Command in Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

A total of 20 people were on board, including 11 Myanmarians, 2 Indonesians, and 2 Vietnamese, including 5 Korean sailors including the captain, 1st, 2nd and 3rd class navigators and engine managers.

Choi Young-ship was composed of 300 people, including the checkpoint and search team composed of special warfare soldiers and the aviation corps soldiers operating maritime helicopters. There is.

[앵커]

How is the government response? First of all, did the Ministry of Foreign Affairs request that the vessel be lifted early?

[기자]

Yes, it is.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has requested Iran to lift the detention of South Korean Kemiho captured by Iranian authorities early.

They also explained that they have checked the safety of the crew along with the local ship detention situation.

Earlier, Iranian media reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured a Korean national oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz from local perspective on charges of environmental pollution.

In this regard, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the matter was entirely technical and said the vessel was taken in accordance with a court order to investigate marine pollution, foreign media say.

However, it is known that numerous merchant ships were sailing in the nearby waters when the Korean Chemi was captured, and it is also pointed out that there may be other reasons behind Iran’s capture.

Earlier, the United States imposed a ban on imports of Iranian crude oil after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018, and in April last year, a year later, eight countries, including Korea, pressured to follow the measure.

As a result, trade between Korea and Iran was virtually halted, and KRW-denominated accounts opened in the name of the Iranian Central Bank at banks in Korea were also frozen.

Currently, Iranian funds tied to domestic banks are known to be about 7 trillion won in scale due to such’secondary sanctions’ by the US government.

In the end, it is a view that the aftermath of the US-Iran conflict led to the capture of the Korean Chemie.

The Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf waters, is a strategic point where about a third of the world’s maritime crude oil transports pass.

Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz whenever military tensions rise with the United States.

YTN Kim Moon-kyung from the Ministry of Defense[[email protected]]is.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]