On the 11th, Choi Jong-gun (center left), the first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Jarif (center right) in Tehran, Iran. Tehran/AP Yonhap News
Iran’s foreign minister accused Korea of ”money for Iranians to buy food and medicine,” regarding Iranian funds frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions. According to Iran News website (IFP) news, Foreign Minister Mohamid Javad Jarif said on the 20th (local time), “We told South Korean officials,’You will freeze the Iranian Central Bank money to buy Iranian food and medicine. “I did,” he criticized Korea. “We told them (Korean officials) that'(Korea) has Iranian food and medicine according to US orders’.” “I told them,’I have to know that this will affect Iranian attitudes toward Korea in the future,'” the media reported. He also argued that the losers in this game would be Korea and Korean industry. Iran’s (IRNA) news agency also reported that Minister Zarif made such a statement, saying that South Korea’s proposal in relation to negotiations with South Korea was inappropriate. On the 4th, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured the Korean chemical carrier’Korea Chemie’ in the Gulf Sea. The Iranian government officially argues that the capture was due to marine pollution. However, on the one hand, it is criticizing Korea for demanding a freeze of $7 billion (about 7.6 trillion won) of Iranian funds, which are tied to Korean banks due to US sanctions. The South Korean government dispatched a delegation representing the first vice minister of foreign affairs to Iran on the 10th to discuss the issue of the Korean chemi capture and Iran’s frozen fund, but the direction of resolving the situation is not yet seen. By Jo Ki-won, staff reporter, [email protected]