Diplomatic relations between Iran and South Korea began in 1962. Despite Iran-North Korea relations, South Korea and Iran sought to maintain friendly relations.  As if the trade volume between Iran and South Korea reached seventeen billion dollars in 2014. But their relations have changed, since the US imposed sanctions on Iran. The recent visit of the South Korean Prime Minister to Iran has led to a resumption of bilateral relations. (Photo quoted from Yahoo's image)

 

In fact, this is the first visit of a Prime Minister of South Korea to Iran in the last 44 years. In the past, Iran has always been of special importance to South Korea among the Middle East countries for various political, economic, and cultural reasons. 

 

In addition to political ties, South Korea has sought broader economic ties with Iran. Iran was also one of the most influential factors in relations between South Korea and other Middle Eastern countries. Meanwhile, Seoul is now interested in normalizing relations between the two countries, overcoming the challenges of the past few years. 

 

South Korea was also a regular customer of Iranian oil, but after the sanctions were imposed in 2019, Iranian money was frozen in South Korean banks. But now there seems to be a loophole in long-running tensions over Tehran's request to unlock the US $ 7 billion in South Korea under US sanctions.

 

In another dimension, from 2019, the trade, economic and political relations between Iran and South Korea turned to be the weakest in the history of the two countries due to implementation of more comprehensive US sanctions against Iran by South Korea, and following that, the departure of two important companies -LG and Samsung- from Iran.

 

Following the signing of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, The South Korean president had a trip to Iran in May 2016, in which, nearly 20 agreements were signed aimed to increase trade between the two countries to $ 45 billion. Also, since then, South Korean goods have access to almost a significant part of the Iranian market. South Korea is now interested in investing in Iran and reviving trade relations.

 

In the meantime, South Korea hopes to re-enter the Iranian market by supporting the proceeding of talks to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. On the other hand, it should be noted that many in Tehran believe that South Korea currently has no place in the future of Iran's foreign trade and that relations have deteriorated at the highest levels.

 

Now, given the strategic agreement between China and Iran, South Korea tries not to lose the Iranian market due to the increase in China's extensive interactions with Iran. Elsewhere, three months ago, Iran seized a Korean oil tanker on the eve of a visit by the South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister to Tehran. But now, two days after Iran released the South Korean oil tanker and its crew, the Korean prime minister visited Iran.

 

In fact, an agreement to lift the embargo on Korean ships by Iran and the freedom of navigation were other consequences of the Korean prime minister's visit to Iran.

 

 What is clear is that Seoul's widespread support for US sanctions against Iran has damaged South Korea's image in Tehran. Seoul hopes that apart from the complementary economic role of Iran and South Korea for each other, the development of bilateral relations with Iran will be able to rapidly expand bilateral cooperation in all fields after the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

 

In the meantime, initial agreements to remove the blockade of Iranian money are important for the proceeding of relations between Tehran and Seoul, and can prevent a wide divergence in relations and draw a more positive outlook for increasing comprehensive relation between them.

 

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh

Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs

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