At the intersection of energy dependence and alliance obligation, South Korea finds itself navigating a familiar tension between sovereign caution and the gravitational pull of its most powerful partner. Seoul's presidential office denied reports of an imminent military deployment to the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway through which more than nine-tenths of the country's energy imports flow — even as domestic sources described active preparations for exactly such a mission. The denial arrives amid sustained pressure from Donald Trump, who has made South Korea's reluctance a matter of public grie