In response to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard capturing a Korean ship for maritime pollution, the Korean government has taken an urgent response by dispatching the Cheonghae unit to the Strait of Hormuz. In addition, it was decided to send a bargaining delegation to Iran so that the detained vessel could be released early. Reporter Kim Hwan-yong reports from Seoul.
The ROK military authorities urgently dispatched a 4,400 ton class Choi Young of the Cheonghae Unit to the vicinity of the Hormuz Strait after the Korean national tanker, the Korean Kemi, was captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
This is the remarks of a briefing on the 5th by South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Bu Seung-chan.
[녹취: 부승찬 대변인] “The Cheonghae unit arrived near the Strait of Hormuz this morning in our time.
The Cheonghae unit has been carrying out operations to rescue Korean ships captured by pirates and others in the waters of Aden Bay.
It is reported that the Cheonghae unit monitors the capture situation immediately after arriving in the Strait of Hormuz, while also playing a role in the safety of navigation of other Korean vessels in and out of the Strait.
Along with this, the Korean government decided to send a delegation for local negotiations so that the detained ships and crew could be released early.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam said at a regular briefing on the 5th, “In the earliest possible time, we will dispatch a working-level delegation headed by the working-level director to Iran and try to solve this problem through bilateral negotiations.”
[녹취: 최영삼 대변인] “In addition, we have been making various efforts to lift the detention of the vessel and safely return all of our citizens, such as confirming facts through contact with diplomatic authorities, promptly solving the situation, and requesting the protection of the Korean people.”
The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for Iran’s Ambassador Said Badamchi Shavestari to the government office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing regret and demanding that the detention be lifted as soon as possible.
Ambassador Shavestari reiterated the Iranian government’s position that the detention is a simple technical issue, and made it clear that Iranian diplomatic authorities will work together and work together to resolve it as early as possible, Choi said.
Earlier on the 4th, Iran’s semi-governmental “Pars News” said, “The Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured Korean ships in the Gulf waters and moved them to the port.” Reported. A total of 20 people were on board, including 5 Korean sailors.
Iran has been cited as a reason for violating environmental regulations on Korean ships, but there are observations that the accumulated dissatisfaction over Iran’s oil exports to Korea was the background of the ship’s detention.
The money for oil exports, known to be worth about $7 billion, is deposited in a Korean won account opened at a bank in Korea under the name of the Iranian Central Bank.
This account, which bypassed U.S. sanctions against Iran, but traded under the permission of the U.S. government for the transaction of goods between the two countries, was priced as the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018 and restored sanctions against Iran, putting the Iranian Central Bank on the list Stopped.
Concerned about U.S. violations of sanctions against Iran, a bank in South Korea refused to pay for commodity transactions by companies from both countries through the account, and the funds were virtually frozen.
The Iranian government, whose foreign currency crisis has become severe due to strong US sanctions, has been demanding the return of this fund, and especially since the beginning of last year, it has become more urgent to secure foreign currency to import medicines and quarantine supplies due to the novel coronavirus infection.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the Iranian government deposited funds frozen in banks in Korea as payments for the novel corona vaccine to the’COVAX facility’, an international project for joint purchase and distribution of vaccines led by the World Health Organization (WHO). I asked the Korean government to do it.
Accordingly, the Korean government received an exemption from sanctions on the vaccine payment through consultation with the United States, but the Iranian side is concerned about the possibility that the funds will be frozen again in order to transfer the funds deposited in won to Kovax. Is known to be.
The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the first Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong-gun’s visit to Iran, which was planned to discuss the issue before the ship arrest incident, will take place on a two-night and three-day schedule from the 10th.
I am Shin Beom-cheol, Director of the Center for Foreign Affairs and Security at the Korea Institute for National Strategy, a private research institute
[녹취: 신범철 센터장] “The situation is quite difficult because of Corona 19. That is why Iran may have perceived as in the past that if it tried to solve this problem only by diplomatic means, the Korean government would continue to postpone it. At that time, in order to pressure the Korean government’s choice,
It can be the cause of the detention, and you see it like this.”
Some analysts say that Iran’s actions were aimed at the next administration of the United States, Joe Biden, rather than South Korea.
Jang Ji-hyang, head of the Middle East Research Center at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a private research institute, explained that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was a hard-liner force against the United States, leading the military action in the Strait of Hormuz.
Zhang says there appears to be an intent to pressure the United States ahead of the launch of a new administration, Biden, who has been talking about restoring the Iranian nuclear agreement.
[녹취: 장지향 센터장] “Yesterday, they first announced that they had increased uranium enrichment to 20%, and is it one of a series of steps toward hard-line mode led by the Revolutionary Guard? I think it’s a symbolic move.”
Center chief Shin Beom-cheol also analyzed that the Iranian hard-liners captured Korean ships to highlight the unstable situation in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing the US to return to the nuclear agreement as soon as possible.
This is VOA News from Seoul, Kim Hwan-yong.