Mideast attack jolts oil-dependent AsiaBy ASSOCIATED PRESShome/News/World/Mideast attack jolts oil-dependent AsiaSEOUL, South Korea: The blasts detonated far from the bustling megacities of Asia, but the attack this week on two tankers in the strategic Strait f Hormuz hits at the heart of the region’s oil import-dependent economies. Japan, South Korea and China don’t have enough of it; the Middle East does, and much of it flows through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. But Japan still gets oil from other Middle East nations using the Strait of Hormuz for transport. South Korea, the world’s fifth largest importer of crude oil, also depends on the Middle East for the vast majority of its supplies. For both Japan and South Korea, there is extreme political unease to go along with the economic worries stirred by the violence in the strait.

Source: Manila Times June 15, 2019 18:00 UTC