South Korea has repeated its position on the return of more than $7 billion of Iranian funds blocked in the country because of American sanctions on Tehran as a top diplomat says the funds will be repatriated once Iran and world powers agree to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.
South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong said on Wednesday that Seoul will make efforts to release the Iranian funds when the JCPOA is restored, according to remarks published in the official Yonhap news agency.
The remarks were made during a phone call between Cho and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said that during the phone conversation, Bagheri had called for a prompt resolution of “the pressing bilateral issues” between Tehran and Seoul, a clear reference to the issue of blocked funds that has strained bilateral ties.
Iran has repeatedly insisted that South Korea should pay back the money it owes Iran for energy imports in the past without tying the issue to the outcome of the JCPOA revival talks.
Some Iranian authorities have also called for an action to force South Korea to pay back the debt as they argue that Seoul’s sheer compliance with American sanctions is against international laws.
South Korea was a major buyer of Iranian crude oil before 2018 when the United States pulled out of the JCPOA and imposed sanctions on Tehran.
South Korean Ambassador to Iran Yun Kang-hyeon (left) meets with President of Iran Chamber of Commerce Gholam Hossein Shafei (right) in Tehran August 24, 2021.
In a meeting in August 24, 2021 with South Korean Ambassador to Iran Yun Kang-hyeon, President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei said that South Korea had to seek ways to compensate the damages caused by following the US sanctions against Tehran.
Despite cordial relations with Iran, South Korea followed the anti-Iran sanctions more than many other countries, Shafei said.
He regretted that South Korea even refused to cooperate with Iran in supplying food and medical items.
Noting that the level of trade relations between Iran and South Korea have decreased from about $17 billion to $2 billion, Shafei said that the Iranian economic activists will definitely replace the South Korean companies with partners from other countries.