Tehran-SANA
Iranian First Vice President Ishaq Jahangiri renewed his country's demand for South Korea to immediately release its foreign exchange assets and take steps to "compensate for the problems of recent years."
During a joint press conference with South Korean Prime Minister Chun Se Kyung in Tehran today, according to IRNA news agency, Jahangiri said: “During my closed and publicized discussions with the South Korean Prime Minister, I explicitly raised Iran's demands on this country and called for him to make efforts to compensate for the past. He expressed his regret that the procedures of Korean banks represented in the freezing of 7 billion of Iranian foreign exchange assets resulting from the legal sales of oil and gas condensate to this country caused "serious confusion" to the relations between the two countries.
Jahangiri pointed out that this behavior on the part of Korean banks and their freezing of Iranian assets influenced by American dictations came at a time when the Iranian people were in dire need of it to face the "difficult" economic and health conditions resulting from the Corona pandemic.
Jahangiri stressed the need to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields and to develop them in a way that meets the aspirations of the two peoples, considering that the economies of the two countries complement each other in the regions of West and East Asia.
For his part, Chung said that his meeting with the Iranian Vice President will strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries and support their confrontation of the difficulties facing their way towards a bright future, indicating the need to continue working to strengthen these relations in a way that serves the aspirations of the peoples of the two countries.
Chung expressed his country's desire for the parties concerned to continue discussions on the nuclear deal, pointing out that Seoul “seeks to negotiate with the rest of the countries to free Iran's financial resources.”
During the last two years, Iran conducted several rounds of negotiations with South Korea to urge it to release these funds, but they did not succeed amid strong American opposition.