South Korean team in Vienna for talks on debt to Iran
South Korea says it has sent a delegation to Vienna to hold talks with Iran and other countries over how to resolve the issue of frozen Iranian assets held in the Asian country.
Iran and the remaining signatories of a 2015 nuclear deal on Monday resumed discussions to remove sanctions on the Islamic Republic and bring the US back to compliance with the agreement.
The South Korean foreign ministry said its vice foreign minister Choi Jong-kun had arrived in Vienna with a delegation to "explore ways to resolve the issue of frozen Iranian assets in Korea" through consultations on the sidelines with Iran and in coordination with the US, France, Germany and Britain.
Iran has repeatedly demanded the release of its illegally frozen assets in several countries, including some $10 billion in South Korea, but Seoul has looked at Washington for a permit to repay its debt.
About $2.7 billion deposited by the Seoul branch of Iran's Bank Mellat is held by the Bank of Korea, while more than $7 billion worth of Iranian oil money is stuck at the Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank, according to Yonhap news agency. South Korea’s refusal to free them has caused a diplomatic spat.
South Korea was the biggest client of Iranian gas condensate with 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) on top of 100,000 bpd of crude oil, but the country stopped the imports in November 2018 even before the illegal US sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil industry kicked in.
Gas condensate is an ultra light oil which has a wide range of utilization in the petrochemical industry.
Last month, South Korea’s ambassador to Iran said his country has suffered badly from more than three years of US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Yun Kang-hyeon said South Korea's petrochemical sector had been badly affected by the sanctions because of its heavy reliance on Iranian oil supplies.
South Korea and Japan were the major customers of Iran's South Pars condensate, favoring the grade for its rich naphtha yield as well as its relative cheapness to other condensate grades.
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