South Korea to send ships to Saudi Red Sea port to avoid Hormuz

Oil prices have surged amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, raising growth and inflation risks for South Korea, which relies on Middle Eastern crude for around 70 percent of its imports.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz -- a critical route for global crude oil and gas -- in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.

The situation has prompted Seoul to prepare emergency measures, including a fuel price cap -- the first such step since 1997.

"Korean-flagged vessels need to be dispatched to alternative routes" to secure crude supplies using export routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz, lawmaker Ahn Do-geol told reporters after a meeting with relevant agencies, including the energy ministry.

"We are pushing to deploy five South Korean-flagged vessels to Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea region," he said, without giving details.

He said special envoys would also be sent to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Algeria to help secure additional crude supplies.

Like other Asian economies, South Korea relies heavily on energy imports, including through the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure has driven up energy prices and rattled the global economy.

The situation has prompted the government to propose a $17.2 billion supplementary budget to cushion the economic impact, with President Lee Jae Myung warning that the economy is effectively on a "wartime footing".

The country's energy ministry recently issued guidelines urging the public to conserve energy, including by taking shorter showers and charging mobile phones during daytime hours.