People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy demands withdrawal of government's decision to expand Cheonghae Unit's operational area

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Min-young = On the 10th, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy called for the immediate withdrawal of the motion to extend the deployment of the Cheonghae Unit, which was passed at the Cabinet meeting to expand its operational scope to the southern ocean of Oman, closer to the Strait of Hormuz, calling it "an obvious trick to dispatch troops."

Earlier on this day, at a cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House, a motion to amend the extension of the dispatch was passed, including expanding the mission area of ​​the Cheonghae Unit and dispatching additional assets. The agenda will be submitted to the National Assembly after receiving President Lee's approval and undergo the legislative approval process.

The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy issued a statement that day, criticizing, "The two-faced attitude of indirectly expanding the operational scope of the Cheonghae Unit and deploying weapons for military operations unrelated to the anti-piracy mission despite promising the public the principle of non-intervention and non-involvement in war is unacceptable."

He then argued, “As the Cheonghae Unit is a member of the Combined Naval Command under the U.S. Central Command, the newly dispatched patrol aircraft can be used to collect and share information for the U.S. military’s military operations against Iran.”

He also emphasized, "It should be recalled that the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned about the expansion of the Cheonghae Unit's operational area," and that "the National Assembly must reject the indirect U.S.-supported dispatch bill disguised as a motion to extend the Cheonghae Unit's deployment in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, which denies war of aggression."

The solidarity added, "There is a bad precedent that the Diman unit dispatched to Iraq in the past performed the mission of transporting and providing logistics support to allied forces, including the U.S. military, unlike the mission submitted to the National Assembly. Why should we send the weapon system now? If we are preparing in advance for a situation where a sustainable ceasefire is concluded between the United States and Iran, the weapon system should be dispatched later with separate consent from the National Assembly."