TEHRAN (Iran News) During a meeting with Isfahan’s Governor Mehdi Jamalinejad on Sunday, the ambassador stated that enhancing these interactions is crucial for restoring the long-standing relations between South Korea and Iran.

Ambassador Kim highlighted discussions he had with Isfahan’s economic players, revealing significant potential for increased collaboration.

He expressed his commitment to fostering friendly ties and urged the Isfahan governor general to support these initiatives. Kim noted that tourism would serve as a solid foundation for developing bilateral relations, citing his recent visit to Isfahan as a motivating factor.

Additionally, he referred to the 15th International Exhibition of Tourism, Handicrafts, and Hotel Management in Isfahan, where he aims to connect with local industry managers and boost interaction. The ambassador also expressed interest in promoting cultural exchanges based on shared heritage, including the historical significance of the Silk Road in linking the two cultures.

He further highlighted that the University of Isfahan features a department dedicated to Korean culture and that three Korean students are currently learning about Isfahan’s culture and the Persian language. He noted the potential for sports, particularly Taekwondo, to enhance exchanges between Iran and Korea.

Jamalinejad proposed the Isfahan Week in South Korea to further enhance tourism and cultural ties. He invited South Korean tour operators to explore Isfahan’s rich cultural and historical offerings, emphasizing the city’s unique position on the Silk Road and its potential as a prime destination for international tourists.

The governor said that Isfahan hosts over 12% of Iran’s industries and 85 industrial parks, alongside major national industries. The city is known for its advanced technologies, and Isfahan’s industrialists maintain a global reputation, he added.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) The minister of sports and youth has ordered a comprehensive investigation into recent misconduct involving members of the national athletics team during the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea.

Following a report from the Athletics Federation regarding inappropriate behavior by three national team members on the sidelines of the competition, Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali on Monday instructed the deputy for championship and professional sports and the ministry’s security chief to seriously pursue the matter and submit a detailed report.

Donyamali stressed the importance of upholding ethics, discipline, and the dignity of representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran at international events.

National athletes should serve as role models for the country’s youth, he said, adding any breach of ethical or disciplinary standards is unacceptable.

He also called for a thorough review of the dispatch, oversight, and management processes for national teams in such events to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Athletics Federation, in a statement, confirmed the disciplinary violations and expressed regret and an apology.

It said the conduct of the three athletes is under close review and that appropriate action will be taken against those responsible

Donyamali stressed the importance of upholding ethics, discipline, and the dignity of representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran at international events.

National athletes should serve as role models for the country’s youth, he said, adding any breach of ethical or disciplinary standards is unacceptable.

He also called for a thorough review of the dispatch, oversight, and management processes for national teams in such events to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The Athletics Federation, in a statement, confirmed the disciplinary violations and expressed regret and an apology.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) This significant change in trade dynamics indicates a shift in the structure of trade between the two countries. While Iran’s non-oil exports to South Korea increased dramatically, South Korea’s exports to Iran decreased due to various factors, including sanctions and banking restrictions, changes in target markets, and Iran’s economic situation.

In 2023, Iran was a major importer from South Korea, but in 2024, the trade balance is shifting in favor of Iran, thanks to the significant increase in non-oil exports. This growth in exports is a result of Iran’s efforts to reduce its dependence on oil and meet the demand for Iranian products in the South Korean market.

For Iran to maintain this trend, it must address the challenges of aligning with South Korea’s standards and overcoming the obstacles posed by sanctions and banking restrictions. Iran needs to find solutions to facilitate trade and financial processes with South Korea.

The joint report highlights the efforts of both countries to strengthen their commercial ties and create new opportunities for cooperation.

In 2023, Iran was a major importer from South Korea, but in 2024, the trade balance is shifting in favor of Iran, thanks to the significant increase in non-oil exports. This growth in exports is a result of Iran’s efforts to reduce its dependence on oil and meet the demand for Iranian products in the South Korean market.

For Iran to maintain this trend, it must address the challenges of aligning with South Korea’s standards and overcoming the obstacles posed by sanctions and banking restrictions. Iran needs to find solutions to facilitate trade and financial processes with South Korea.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) Baghaei on Sunday conveyed Iran’s condolences and sympathy to the government and people of South Korea and Thailand, particularly to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery for those injured in the tragic incident.

Earlier in the day, a South Korean passenger aircraft caught fire after it skidded off a runway at the international airport of the town of Muan.

South Korean authorities said 181 individuals were on board the Jeju Air passenger plane that was returning from Thailand’s capital Bangkok. So far, 127 people have been confirmed dead.

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Team Melli, who had previously defeated New Zealand and China in the preliminary round, will play Japan in Group I on Thursday.

The 2024 Asian Men’s Handball Championship is the 21st edition of the championship scheduled to be held from 11 to 25 Jan. in Bahrain, under the aegis of Asian Handball Federation (AHF).

It’s the third time in history that the championship is organized by the Bahrain Handball Federation.

It also acts as a qualification tournament for the 2025 World Men’s Handball Championship, with top four teams from the championship directly qualifying for the event.

If New Zealand finish inside the top five, they are qualified as well as the representative of Oceania.

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The match is scheduled for Jan. 13 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Team Melli will also play Thailand, Japan, Australia and China in the following days.

Iran team have been recently awarded the title of the “2023 Best Asian Team Performance” by the Asian Paralympic Committee (AsPC) in November.

The 2024 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from Jan. 12 to 20 and the winners of both the men’s and women’s competition will qualify directly for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

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The lawmaker, Shahriar Heidari, who is the deputy chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the Omani initiative has also struck a responsive chord with South Korea.

The remarks came at a time as Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian is visiting Qatar and Oman, with diplomatic efforts underway to include Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in this tour.

“Oman and Qatar are two good and reliable neighbors of Iran. Many times they announced their readiness to resolve the differences between other countries and Iran. Oman has announced its readiness to resolve disputes between South Korea and Iran. We have no fundamental differences,” Heidari told Iran’s SNN news agency.

He added, “Our dispute is about Iran’s blocked money in South Korea. In this regard, Oman has made a proposal that has been approved by Iran and South Korea. We hope that this proposal will be implemented.”

He also said that holding talks over Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea is on the agenda of Amir Abdollahian’s visit to Oman.

On Tuesday morning, Amir Abdollahian left Tehran for Qatar at the head of a delegation for talks with high-ranking Qatari officials. Different issues of mutual interest at bilateral, regional and international levels are on the agenda of talks, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

In Doha, the Iranian foreign minister met with Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar.

Amir Abdollahian is also expected to visit Oman. A Qatari newspaper said on Monday that Amir Abdollahian is also expected to visit Muscat.

Citing Iranian sources familiar with the matter, Al Araby Al Jadeed said diplomatic efforts are being done to include Kuwait and the UAE. “The visit to Kuwait and the UAE is not confirmed until this moment, and coordination is underway with the foreign ministries of the two countries to include them in the tour as well,” it said.

The sources added that the tour “aims to discuss ways to enhance regional rapprochement between Iran and its Arab neighbors in light of the new positive atmosphere.”

The sources pointed out that the visit also comes in the context of the Iranian government’s “neighborhood diplomacy”, following up on “issues of common interest” and “strengthening bilateral relations.”

The Qatari newspaper said the importance of Amir Abdollahian’s visit to the two countries goes beyond the bilateral relations with them to ongoing developments between Tehran and Washington, as Oman and Qatar are currently playing a mediating role in reducing tension between the two parties, nuclear negotiations and a possible prisoner exchange deal.

Amir Abdollahian’s visit to Muscat comes three weeks after Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman visited Tehran and met with senior Iranian officials, amid talks that he had conveyed an American message to them.

Iran is improving relations with its Arab neighbors. Heidari had earlier said President Ebrahim Raisi has prioritized improvement of relations with neighbors and regional countries.

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Speaking t ILNA, Pouya Firouzi said that the chamber cannot be an official source for announcing the status of Iran’s frozen fund in South Korea, adding that the government has directly started talks with South Korean government over the fate of the frozen money and the chamber in any condition is just a consumer and listener. He added that ultimately this is the governments who announce the mechanism and the chamber is not allowed or able to confirm or deny unfreezing of the fund.

He then said that the trade relation of Iran and South Korea in the past two years has fallen to the lowest level and last year Iran’s exports to Korea stood at $82m and in return it imported $736m of goods. He added that the trade volume of both country once was $6b and the figure has slumped considerably.

Touching upon the main factors behind this decline, Firouzi said that the main factor was the exit of South Korean companies from Iran after imposition of sanctions and the private sector was unable to have banking transactions with South Korea and it seems the frozen money in South Korea helped this decline to get faster and worse.

He said that policy of importing cars from South Korea is in two parts, adding that weak trade ties with Korea and domestic policies caused banning cars from South Korea and if these two factors change, South Korean companies are interested to have some share from Iran’s car market.

Firouzi added that before the exit of South Korean companies from Iran, they had some discussions with Koreans on imports of goods which were importing technical knowhow, imports of technology and ultimately investment of Korean companies in Iran but unfortunately sanctions stopped them and actually trade between the two countries was halted, adding that South Koreans’ investment in Iran hinges on macro policy-makings of Iran.

He added that he does not know why South Korea does not like to pay Iran’s frozen money in dollar and they want to pay it in its national currency won, adding that he is not aware that the talks between the two countries is in which direction, reiterating that paying money in won is not in the benefit of the country and Koreans will benefit from it.

Last week South Korean media said Seoul and Washington are mulling over ways to release Iran’s $7 billion funds frozen due to U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

In an article on Tuesday, the Korea Economic Daily said the move will help Seoul resume its business ties with Tehran as well as President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Citing diplomatic and government sources in Seoul, the conservative business daily said Korean and U.S. government officials are involved in working-level discussions under Washington’s leadership to unfreeze the Iranian funds.

South Korea has reportedly blocked $7 billion which it owes for importing Iranian oil prior to full imposition of U.S. sanctions in May 2019. Bilateral ties between Iran and South Korea are frayed because of Seoul’s refusal to release the Iranian money held at two commercial banks – Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea.

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Speaking to ILNA, Frirouzi said that to form a barter trade, it needs an intermediary that this mechanism is not available for now which does not exists, adding that Iran’s private sector several times has tried to activate barter trade with South Korea but South Koreans do not like to ignore the sanctions laws.

He noted that in the first five months of the current year Iran’s imports from South Korea have risen and in return its exports have declined. He added that Iran’s exports to South Korea in five months have been $32.5m while at the same time it has imported $277m of goods from South Korea.

On imports of cars from South Korea, he said that if the condition for financial transactions is facilitated, there will be no problem because the industry ministry has signaled green light. He added that the price of the cars that the ministry has in sight depends on the agreement between the dealing companies.

Firouzi reiterated that South Korea once was Iran’s fifth trade partner but after the sanctions, the trade between them has declined and now South Korea ranks 38^th among Iran’s trade partners and it is because of sanctions because South Koreans do not risk sanctions punishment.

He once again reiterated that South Koreans prefer direct trade rather than barter, noting that South Korean national currency could not replace dollar in trade with Iran.

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“The $3.5 billion in assets claimed to have been released was not part of Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea,” Hossein Tanhai added.

He made the comment after a report was released claiming $3.5 billion in Iranian assets had been freed up.

The largest amount of frozen Iranian assets is in South Korea, standing at $7 billion.

He also touched upon the status of trade transactions between the two countries,

“Exchanges between the two countries are very little and are mostly related to small firms working together unofficially,” he explained.

“But as Major South Korean firms mostly work with the U.S., they are not working with Iran. Trade transaction between the two countries is tiny, amounting to less than $150 million,” he said.

“Most of our imports from South Korea include medical goods and paper. Our exports to that country is very limited and mostly includes oil and petrochemical products, which are exported to the country indirectly,” he said.

He stipulated that South Korea’s new envoy to Tehran has economic vision and tries to continue economic programs rather than political issues and for this reason, South Korea is in talks with the U.S. officials in order that the U.S. exempts Seoul from sanctions against Iran.

South Korea refuses to release Iran’s frozen assets in the country under the United States’ pressure. Tehran has, time and again, called on Seoul not to be swayed by the White House and to free up Iran’s money. However, the South has, so far, failed to take practical action in that regard.

Tanhai’s remarks when managing Director of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Ali Naderi has declared that more than 3.5 billion dollars of Iran’s assets blocked in another country have been unfrozen recently. He did not mention more details.

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