South Korea's Chosun Daily is reporting that if the US military campaign against Iran extends beyond its projected four-to-five-week timeline, American air defence assets currently stationed on the Korean Peninsula could be redeployed to the Middle East leaving Seoul potentially exposed to North Korean threats. The assets most at risk include the THAAD battery in Seongju in North Gyeongsang Province, Patriot missile batteries, MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drones based at Gunsan Air Base, and the over 500 US personnel who operate them. The precedent exists. In June 2025, ahead of Operation Midnight Hammer targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, the US withdrew three of eight USFK Patriot batteries to the Middle East, only returning them to South Korea in October. The interceptor shortage makes the current situation more severe. The Financial Times reported that up to 150 THAAD missiles, a significant portion of Washington's total stockpile, were expended during last year's 12-day war and barely replaced before the current conflict erupted. Iran, by contrast, fired over 700 drones and hundreds of ballistic missiles in just the first 48 hours of Operation True Promise 4 an asymmetry that is draining US defensive stocks faster than they can be replenished. With Trump saying the US has the "capability to go far longer" than four weeks, the pressure on Korean Peninsula assets may only intensify.