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.
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.
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.
This comes a matter of days after Tehran's foreign ministry said it hoped Seoul would not take part in the mission.
The U.S. has been pressing South Korea and Japan to join the mission,... but Seoul has yet to issue an official response.