A South Korean-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC), the 300,000-ton HMM Universal Winner, commenced its transit out of the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday afternoon. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun formally confirmedthe operation during an active session of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, verifying the vessel’s location south of Iran’s Larak Island. The vessel is carrying approximately 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude oil and is sailing toward Ulsan, South Korea. The transit represents the first successful movement of a South Korean ultra-heavy energy asset through the strategic choke point since regional hostilities sharply disrupted commercial