By Park Si-soo
Korea is expected to cooperate with the United States and other Western countries in imposing new sanctions on Iran, which is accused of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The government is reportedly considering joining the international action by reducing or suspending crude oil imports from the Middle Eastern country. Other sanctions are likely to include banning Korean firms from importing Iranian petrochemical products, according to reports.
Teheran insists its program is “entirely peaceful.”
The U.S. has pushed many countries to take part in the move, noting trade penalties would be automatically placed on countries and firms doing business with Iran.
“The government is studying on how to react,” said Cho Byung-jae, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Sunday. “Many Korean firms will be badly affected if the U.S. penalties go into effect. We are taking a close look at this issue to avoid any economic damage that could be caused by the measures.”
Another Seoul official said relevant departments were engaging in “last-minute talks” to determine the government’s stance and the result will be announced in the near future as soon as technical and legal reviews are completed.
“The U.S. will allow a six-month grace period for those affected by the envisioned penalties,” the official said. “During the period, we will consider excluding Iran from a list of countries from which we have imported oil while shifting toward other oil-rich Mideast countries such as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.”
Korea bought 72.6 million barrels of crude oil from Iran last year, accounting for 8.3 percent of its total oil imports, according to the Korea National Oil Corp.
This deliberation came one week after Robert Einhorn, U.S. special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, put pressure on Seoul to take action supportive of the U.S.-led sanctions, saying in a press conference here that he visited Seoul to “see what the Republic of Korea can do to sharpen the choice for the leaders of Iran.”
Einhorn said the goal of this pressure is to “encourage the leaders of Iran to stop defying the international community and start cooperating to enter into serious and concrete negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Washington is aggressively looking to introduce the fresh sanctions as early as possible.
President Barack Obama said last Thursday he is “considering all options” to have Tehran give up its controversial nuclear program.
The U.S. Congress is pressing ahead with penalties for foreign banks that do business with Iran’s central bank, a plan that the Senate endorsed last week on a 100-0 vote.
The House of Representatives will vote on the bill this week aimed at punishing countries and companies that invest in Iran’s energy sector, furnish it with gasoline, or help it develop chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons or advanced conventional arms.
European Union leaders have agreed to join their forces in the move by imposing new sanctions on Iran’s disputed nuclear program by January.
The 27-nation bloc expressed its “serious and deepening concerns over the nature of Iran’s nuclear program” in a statement. The E.U. beefed up its sanctions again Iran last week, slapping asset freezes on 143 firms and 37 individuals, who were also barred from traveling to the union.
Last year, Seoul listed 126 Iranian companies and individuals for economic sanctions, including the Seoul office of Bank Mellat, Iran’s state commercial bank, in response to U.S. and international pressure.
Korea has been cautious about sanctions on Iran because such moves could have negative effects on the local economy.
Iran is one of Seoul’s major business partners in the Middle East with bilateral trade volume reaching about $14.5 billion during the first 10 months of this year. The amount is the highest ever, surpassing the previous annual record of $12.6 billion in 2008.
Einhorn reportedly met with a senior finance ministry official during his stay here to ask for the country’s cooperation with the sanctions.