What Caused the Attack on HMM’s Namwoo? Insights from the Defense Team’s Dubai Investigation

Translation result [Herald Economy = Reporter Yoon Ho] South Korea’s Defense Ministry technical analysis team, sent to inspect the HMM-owned vessel Namu after it was struck by an unidentified aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz, has completed its on-site investigation and returned home.

Security sources said on May 17 that the team finished the forensic inspection in Dubai on May 14–15 and departed for home the following day.

The Defense Ministry said it dispatched the technical team to Dubai on May 13 to determine the cause of the strike on the Namu and to conduct scientific analysis.

The team included experts from the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), which handles scientific investigations, as well as personnel from the Defense Investigation Headquarters (CHC).

With engine wreckage from the aircraft recovered and brought into the country on May 15, the ministry’s team in Dubai concentrated on detailed on-site forensics, including examining hull punctures.

Analysts also conducted a fire investigation and interviewed nearby personnel and witnesses. Shipboard CCTV recorded the unidentified aircraft only as a small dot passing by; investigators said the footage alone cannot establish the object’s point of origin.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi to press Tehran for its account of the Namu strike.

On the same morning, National Security Office Director Wi Seong-rak told KBS’s Sunday Diagnosis Live that the government would accelerate the probe, share findings with the public once confirmed, and take necessary follow-up measures. He added that authorities have not yet identified the attacker but are pursuing all possibilities.