Iran pressures Seoul over frozen assets in Korean banks

Nasser Kanaani, spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry. [IRAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE]

The Iranian foreign ministry released another statement pressuring Korea on the years-long dispute surrounding frozen Iranian assets in Korea.

“Iran’s financial demands from South Korea are the legal right of the Iranian nation, and the Korean government is responsible to pay the legal rights of the Iranian nation without any conditions and within the framework of bilateral relations,” said the Iranian foreign ministry in a statement released Monday.

It was the latest statement released by the Iranian foreign ministry regarding Korea since President Yoon Suk Yeol sparked controversy with comments about Iran during a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this month.

Speaking to the UAE-based Akh unit of the Korean military on Jan. 15, Yoon told troops, "The UAE's enemy and biggest threat is Iran, while ours is North Korea."

In its first statement following the incident, the Iranian foreign ministry focused its criticism on Yoon’s comments, but it has since taken actions to draw Korea’s attention to the frozen Iranian assets.

Despite the Korean government’s explanations, the Iranian government summoned the Korean ambassador in Tehran on Jan. 18 to lodge a complaint on Korea’s “failure” to resolve issues regarding frozen Iranian assets in Korean banks.

“The cooperation of the Korean government in this regard was not satisfactory,” the ministry said in its statement on Monday.

Bilateral relations between Seoul and Tehran have frayed in recent years due to Iranian money frozen in two Korean banks.

Some $7 billion in Iranian assets have been frozen at the Industrial Bank of Korea and Woori Bank since September 2019, when U.S. sanction waivers for Korea's imports of Iranian oil expired.

Some experts said recent responses from Iran were predictable given how the country has responded to the frozen asset issue for years.

“Iran played the same card when a Korean tanker and its crew were seized near the Strait of Hormuz" by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in January 2021, said Paik Seung-hoon, researcher at the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“From the Iranian government’s perspective, it could make sense to make a strong statement on the issue with Korea now, so that it can have a better diplomatic leverage later if and when negotiations take place on the frozen assets.”

The Korean Foreign Ministry said last week it has addressed Iran’s concerns through diplomatic channels.

“The frozen assets issue cannot be solved at the level of our government, because it has to do with the sanctions against Iran,” a Foreign Ministry official told reporters in Seoul on Jan. 19.

U.S. sanctions on Iran were reimposed after former President Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The Iranian foreign ministry criticized the United States and European Union in its statement on Monday as well, calling for “practical action of the western members of the JCPOA.”

It also called recent U.S. government comments regarding ongoing protests in Iran “hostile.”

Demonstrations and protests have erupted throughout Iran since last September, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested for allegedly not wearing a hijab in accordance with Iranian law.

Thousands of people have since taken to the streets to protest against the government of Iran.

In response to the Iranian foreign ministry’s summoning of its ambassador in Tehran, the Korean government summoned the Iranian ambassador in Seoul on Jan. 19.

The Foreign Ministry last summoned the ambassador of Iran in Seoul after the 2021 tanker seizure.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]