South Korea Aims Sanctions at Iran
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SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea listed 126 Iranian companies and individuals for economic sanctions on Wednesday, including a major banking operation, despite Iran's warnings that the penalties would endanger growing trade and energy ties.
The South Korean actions included effectively hamstringing the Seoul office of Bank Mellat, which handles transactions for 70 percent of South Korean exports to Iran. The United States has accused the bank of facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian nuclear, missile and defense entities.
Bank Mellat's Seoul branch will now need approval from the Bank of Korea, the central bank, to carry out any financial deal.
South Korea has been under growing pressure from Washington to join sanctions mandated by the United Nations Security Council. Seoul has sought to balance the pressure with its desire to protect its trade and energy ties with Iran, its largest export market in the Middle East.
Iran, meanwhile, threatened to boycott South Korean cars and electronics in retaliation for any new sanctions.
In the end, South Korea's sanctions were similar to those previously announced by Japan and the European Union.
A senior Foreign Ministry official who briefed the news media, on ground rules of anonymity, said the decision on Iran reflected a campaign to bring international pressure on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons.
"Our government expects Iran to join the international efforts for nuclear nonproliferation and take steps to faithfully implement its obligations under the relative U.N.S.C. resolutions," said a statement read by Kim Young-sun, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Trade between Iran and South Korea grew to $9.6 billion last year, up from $2.9 billion in 2001. In the first seven months of 2010 it rose 53 percent over the same period of last year to $7.4 billion -- thanks mainly to increased oil exports to South Korea and a growing Iranian appetite for Korean electronics and vehicles. Iran is the fourth-largest source of crude oil for South Korea, accounting for 10 percent of its oil imports.
First Published September 9, 2010 2:01 am
