South Korea is reviewing a range of options, including possible military measures, to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the presidential office said on Friday, while denying reports that Seoul had already decided to deploy military assets.

Several South Korean media outlets, including JTBC and MBC, reported on Thursday that the government was preparing to deploy military assets to the region before the end of the year and could seek parliamentary approval as early as this month.

The reports said options under consideration included a maritime patrol aircraft, a logistics support vessel and a mine detection and clearance unit.

A presidential official confirmed that South Korea was discussing practical ways to contribute to freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway and that military measures were among the options being reviewed.

“Nothing has been decided,” the official told reporters, adding that Seoul would need to consider domestic legal procedures, military readiness on the Korean Peninsula and the possibility of parliamentary approval before taking any action.

The official also rejected reports that South Korea had provided no assistance related to the Strait of Hormuz, saying Seoul had long been discussing possible practical contributions with the international community.

South Korea has also been discussing the scale and nature of any potential contribution with countries including the United States, Britain and France, according to local media reports.

President Lee Jae Myung could discuss South Korea’s options regarding the Strait of Hormuz when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron next week, the presidential official said.

The issue comes amid heightened tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a major global energy shipping route. U.S. President Donald Trump said in an August social media post that he had scaled back joint military exercises with South Korea partly because Seoul had declined to assist the United States in its war against Iran.

Rescuers were searching on Monday for survivors a day after a ferry capsized off Northern Cyprus, leaving eight people dead and 18 missing, authorities said.

The ferry departed from the northern port of Girne around midday on Sunday bound for the Turkish mainland but capsized shortly afterwards, triggering a major rescue operation. There were 267 people on board, of whom 241 were rescued, while eight died and 18 remained missing, according to local authorities. Their nationalities were not immediately disclosed.

Several survivors told local media they heard a blast shortly before the vessel overturned, while others said the ferry had begun taking on water before the accident, about four nautical miles into the journey.

Police detained the captain and more than a dozen others following the incident. The captain and eight others were brought before a judge early Monday and formally arrested, according to the official Cypriot news agency TAK.

Northern Cyprus has declared three days of national mourning for the victims.

Footage broadcast by Turkish television showed passengers wearing life jackets clinging to the overturned ferry’s orange hull. The vessel later sank completely and is now lying at a depth of 514 metres, Northern Cyprus Transport Minister Erhan Arikli said.

Arikli said recovering the ferry’s “black box” could help investigators determine the cause of the disaster. Survivors gave differing accounts of the incident, with some reporting an explosion at the front of the vessel and others saying there had not been enough safety equipment on board.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean could be next for a name change, shortly after signing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump joked that after renaming a gulf and a lake, the next step could be an ocean.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said. “Now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

The remarks came as Trump signed the order changing the name of Lake Ontario on U.S. government maps, following his earlier move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

Trump has also restored the former name “Mount McKinley” for Alaska’s highest peak, reversing the official use of Denali adopted during the Obama administration.

The latest proposal comes amid increasingly strained relations between Washington and Ottawa. Trump has repeatedly criticised Canada over trade and has previously suggested that the country should be treated as a U.S. state.

While the U.S. government can determine the names used on its own official maps, it cannot compel Canada, other countries or international organisations to adopt the changes.

For now, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans remain firmly on the map under their familiar names — but Trump has made clear he is not ruling out another change.