TABNAK: Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri and South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chang Byung-Wan discussed bilateral economic and trade relations as they met in the 19th Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) ministerial meeting in Tehran.
During the meeting, Bagheri stressed the necessity of holding further talks and exchanging diplomatic missions between Tehran and Seoul to plan expansion of bilateral ties, adding that Iran is ready for further cooperation with the Asian country in economic and trade spheres.
Chang Byung-wan, for his part, welcomed promoting mutual cooperation of Tehran and Seoul in political and economic fields.
Last August, the United States and Iran reached an agreement for the release of five U.S. citizens detained in Iran while $6 billion of Iranian assets in South Korea would be unfrozen.
The assets that had been frozen in South Korea were transferred to Switzerland's central bank in August for exchange and transfer to Iran, South Korean media reported.
The financial dispute between Iran and South Korea dates back to 2018, when the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and started slapping economic sanctions on Iran. Before 2018, South Korea had been the third-largest buyer of Iranian oil and the top customer of Iranian condensates. The oil trade between Tehran and Seoul resulted in the accumulation of some seven billion dollars in Iranian oil revenues in South Korean banks.
With tensions between Tehran and Washington exacerbating, Seoul moved to block the Iranian funds for fear of falling afoul of U.S. sanctions on Iran.
