President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam Hossein Shafei said on Wednesday that South Korea had to seek ways to compensate the damages caused by following the US sanctions against Tehran.
Speaking during a meeting in ICCIMA headquarters in Tehran with South Korean Ambassador to Iran Yun Kang-hyeon, Shafei said that Seoul’s policies in the face of US sanctions against Iran have eroded Iranians' positive view about South Korea.
Despite cordial relations with Iran, South Korea followed the anti-Iran sanctions more than many other countries, Shafei said, referring to freezing a significant amount of Iranian assets in South Korea.
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.
The South Korean ambassador, for his part, said that the US sanctions have inflicted damages on both the Iranian and South Korean economies.
Hyeon said that his visit to the ICCIMA headquarters aims to find ways to fix the relations between Tehran and Seoul with the help of the Iranian private sector.
He expressed hope that the new year will be the beginning of a new chapter in Tehran-Seoul bilateral relations.
The ambassador pledged to do its utmost to improve economic relations between the two countries.