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FM suggests Iran-linked suspects in Korean ship attack
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By
Park Ji-won
Published
May 13, 2026 3:53 pm
KST
UAE calls HMM Namu strike 'terrorist attack'
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun attends a meeting of the government's emergency economic task force at Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun narrowed down the likely suspects behind the attack on a Korean-operated vessel near the Strait of Hormuz to Iran-linked entities, while stopping short of directly naming Tehran and leaving open the possibility that militia groups may have been involved.
“It is difficult to make a hasty determination. When it comes to who may have launched this kind of object, there are several possibilities even within Iran. Militias could also be involved,” Cho told reporters Wednesday at Government Complex Seoul, when asked whether the object that struck HMM Namu, a Korean-operated and Panama-flagged cargo vessel, was likely a drone.
The remarks came as the government has maintained a
notably cautious stance
on identifying who was responsible for the attack on May 4, even after confirming Sunday that it was caused by two unidentified airborne objects. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cheong Wa Dae only stated that it was “an external attack” and that further investigation was required to determine the attacker.
The government sent an investigation team that reportedly included drone and missile experts from the state-run Agency for Defense Development to Dubai, where the damaged ship was towed and is undergoing repairs. Engine debris from the objects will soon arrive in Korea for forensic analysis.
Some military analysts here raised the possibility that the projectile was a HESA Shahed-136, an Iranian-designed one-way attack drone that Tehran has frequently deployed in its conflict with the U.S. and Israel.
However, suicide drones are operated not only by Iran’s military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which developed the weapons, but also by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and militias, making it harder for Korea to definitively identify the perpetrator.
Asked about the possibility that a militia was behind the attack, the foreign minister added, “It is not that we are specifically considering it, but rather that such a possibility exists.”
The government's reticence is widely seen as a diplomatic balancing act. Tehran retains effective control over the passage of 26 Korea-linked ships stranded in the strait, while Washington, Korea’s closest ally, has been pressuring Seoul to join its military initiative to secure the strategic waterway. Immediately after the incident, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the damage to the HMM Namu resulted from an attack carried out by Iran and urged Korea to join its Maritime Freedom Construct initiative.
Some diplomats told The Korea Times that pinpointing Iran as the attacker could provide even stronger grounds for the U.S. to urge Korea to join its military initiative.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates released a statement Monday condemning what it called “the terrorist drone attack on the Korean cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz,” describing it as a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2817, which affirms the importance of freedom of navigation and rejects the targeting of commercial vessels.
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