Iran
The South Korean-flagged tanker Hankuk Chemi departs the Iranian port of Rajai near Bandar Abbas on April 9, 2021. Photo: handout/South Korean Foreign Ministry/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iran on Friday released a South Korean ship it had detained in January, Seoul announced.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the South Korean Hankuk Chemi ship, with a cargo of oil-based chemicals, in the Persian Gulf on January 4, accusing it of violating environmental protocols. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the vessel was released on Friday: “the ship departed safely today,” leaving the port of Rajai near Bandar Abbas at around 6 am. The ship-tracking website MarineTraffic showed the Hankuk Chemi steaming through the Strait of Hormuz.
The crew is in good health, the Korean ministry added.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed the ship was released.
Tehran was suspected of seizing the ship to apply pressure during negotiations to release billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks under American sanctions. South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Jong Kun visited Iran a week after the ship was seized. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the visiting delegation that releasing these funds was a priority, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Discussions to resolve the problem have made progress, with Seoul using some of the funds to export humanitarian goods to Iran and possibly pay off Tehran’s debts at the United Nations.
“We’re expecting to make a considerable progress in terms of paying the UN dues,” a foreign ministry official told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “We have also exported some $30 million worth of medical equipment since we resumed the humanitarian trade with Iran last April.”
Negotiations to revitalize the Iranian nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA) could also “have a positive effect on the frozen funds issue,” said the official.
South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun will visit Iran next week, his office announced on Friday. In this trip, Chung "will create an opportunity to enhance traditional friendly relations between South Korea and Iran, and develop them in a future-oriented manner," read the press release.
Tehran is in talks with the other signatories of the JCPOA – the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China – about repairing the deal, with the US lifting sanctions and Iran returning to full compliance.
Washington, which withdrew from the agreement under the previous administration, wants to return and is prepared to lift sanctions, but also wants to expand negotiations to include Iran’s human rights record, regional activities, and ballistic missile program.
Iran is enriching uranium to 20 percent, a significant step towards weapons-grade levels and far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the JCPOA. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. It is constructing two nuclear power plants, with the assistance of Russia, and plans to produce 40 tons of yellowcake this year.
Updated at 3:27 pm
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