Okay so September was wild for Korea, and not in a good way.

Here’s the deal. The Iran war has been heating up, and the big question at home was whether Korea should send troops to the Strait of Hormuz. Then Iran jumped in. On September 7th, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson posted a warning on X, and get this, he wrote it in Korean. Basically he said sending troops would be an act of aggression and told Korea not to cave to US pressure. Pretty bold move, right?

A few days later, on the 11th, Iran’s foreign minister called our foreign minister Cho Hyun directly to talk about it. So this wasn’t just online noise anymore.

And then it got real. A Korean-owned oil tanker got hit in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the US said it destroyed five Iranian tankers to get back at Iran for firing missiles at American navy ships.

Honestly? This one hits close to home. Most of our oil goes through that strait, so whatever happens there shows up at the gas station and in our electricity bills. Korea is stuck right in the middle, and there’s no easy answer here.