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On May 10, the Blue House said it convened a National Security Council (NSC) working committee after investigators concluded an explosion aboard the Korean-flagged HMM Namuho, which was anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, resulted from an external strike.
Officials did not disclose the specifics of the meeting.
A Blue House official said the NSC working coordination meeting, attended by relevant ministries, reviewed the damage to the Namuho.
Earlier, on May 4, the Foreign Ministry said the incident stemmed from a strike by an unidentified aerial object.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il told reporters, “A joint government investigation confirmed that on May 4 an unidentified aerial object struck the stern of the HMM Namuho,” and added that the object appears on CCTV footage, but investigators faced limits in identifying who launched it, the exact model, or its physical size.
A detailed site inspection, CCTV review and an interview with the ship’s captain found that at about 3:30 p.m. on May 4 two unidentified aerial objects struck the outer plating of the port-side ballast tank on the stern of the HMM Namuho, hitting twice roughly one minute apart.
The impacts produced an opening roughly 5 m (16.4 ft) wide and about 7 m (23.0 ft) deep into the hull, with the plating bent inward toward the ship’s interior.
Park said the damaged area sits about 1–1.5 m (3.3–4.9 ft) above the waterline. Given the blast-pressure damage pattern and the hemispherical penetration shape, he said a mine or torpedo strike appears unlikely.
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