kayhan.ir

News ID: 89156
Publish Date : 13 April 2021 - 22:26

What did the South Korean PM Gain by Visiting Iran?

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

It is indeed strange that while evading any firm commitment to the
release of billions of dollars of Iranian money illegally frozen in
South Korean banks Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun was in Iran
for talks on upgrading of bilateral relations.
It is now several years that the regime in Seoul has blocked at least
seven billion dollars that it owes to the Islamic Republic for vital
crude oil imports that have already been used to grease the wheels
of the South Korean industries for national development and to
earn hundreds of billions of dollars by exporting the resulting products to various countries.
Yet South Korea continues to delay the payment to Iran on the
pretext that the US has instructed it to indulge in lawless behaviour
towards the Islamic Republic.
So what was the purpose of Chung’s three day visit to Tehran, and
what benefits he hopes to gain by talking sweet with senior Iranian
officials?
Was it to try to deceive Iran that in future, if the US ends its economic terrorism, Iran will supply it with more dirt-cheap oil – and
that too without any payment in return?
Such an attitude is nothing but criminal on the part of Seoul, and
complicity in US terrorism.
South Korea may have grown into a leading East Asian state in
industrial development but this does not mean that Iran will continue to buy its expensive products that are available on other international markets and that too in better quality and at reasonable
prices.
Chung during his meetings with senior Iranian officials in Tehran
has clearly got the message that future ties hinge on honesty on the
part of the South Korean regime, whether it is the present one or
any other party that wins the next elections to form the government.
The reality is that South Korea is an American client state, unlike
independent North Korea. In other words, Seoul is merely used as
a military base by the US for provocations against Pyongyang, and
even though the South Korean people oppose such slavish attitude,
there seems to be little they can do in the absence of a strong opposition to a regime fully dependent on Washington.
The Islamic Republic of Iran which supports the goal of the Korean people on both sides of the 38th parallel for unification one day
and the end of American stranglehold on the Korean Peninsula,
values its relations with the people and not with a client regime.
Chung was talking nonsense in Tehran at the press conference
when he said the two countries should boost their ties once the US
sanctions are lifted.
If he is a really independent person and values the dignity of the
Korean people he should feel concerned about their interests and
not the thralldom of his regime to the US which has deprived South
Korean industrial giants like LG and Samsung of their share of the
Iranian market.
This means, even if the next government in Seoul is wise enough
to act independently of the US, there is little hope that the relations
with Tehran will pave the ground for the return of South Korean
companies to the Islamic Republic.