Asked if South Korea would join Project Freedom, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth replies, “We hope so”.

“We hope South Korea would step up, just like we hope Japan … Australia … Europe steps up, but we’re not waiting for them to do so; we’re looking to set the conditions to hand to them,” he tells reporters.

He adds that US Central Command is in contact with a South Korean vessel, which caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.