Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol’s remarks that “the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is Iran,” the Iranian government insisted, “Unfortunately, no compensation measures have been taken by the Korean government.”
According to the state-run IRNA news agency on the 20th (local time), Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Khanani responded to a reporter’s question about President Yoon’s remarks at a regular press conference that day, saying, “He (President Yoon) acted completely unprofessional, and they (the Korean government) ) should make up for this,” he replied.
On the 15th of last month, President Yoon said, “The UAE’s enemy, the most threatening country, is Iran, and our enemy is North Korea,” at a meeting to encourage soldiers in search of the ROK Armed Forces ARK unit dispatched to the UAE. Since then, Iran has strongly protested, saying that it interferes with friendly relations with the Gulf countries.
The Korean government made an explanation that President Yoon’s remarks were made to encourage soldiers dispatched to the UAE, but the Iranian government repeatedly took issue with President Yoon’s remarks, saying that the explanation was not sufficient.
In response to the Iranian government’s repeated raising of the issue, on the 9th, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said, “We have already clearly explained the purpose of our remarks to the Iranian side.”
On this day, spokesperson Kanani also demanded again to resolve the issue of freezing Iranian funds in Korea due to international sanctions.
Spokesman Kanani said, “The Korean government justifies that it cannot return the funds because of sanctions against Iran, but we cannot accept this.”
After withdrawing from the 2018 nuclear deal (JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) with Iran, the US government reinstated sanctions against Iran. Currently, about 7 billion dollars in Iranian oil sales are frozen in Korean won.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.