A destroyer from the South Korean Navy's Cheonghae Unit will leave the southern port city of Busan this afternoon for a six-month deployment to the Gulf of Aden.<br />The Kang Gam Chan will switch places with the Dae Jo Young destroyer to guard South Korean vessels from pirates operating in those waters until the end of February 2020.<br />Since the Kang Gam Chan has reportedly undergone a weapons system upgrade,... there's speculation it could take part in a U.S.-led coalition to secure shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz against Iran's aggressive actions on international oil tankers.<br />This comes a matter of days after Tehran's foreign ministry said it hoped Seoul would not take part in the mission.<br />The U.S. has been pressing South Korea and Japan to join the mission,... but Seoul has yet to issue an official response.<br />
