South Korea will take time to decide whether to seek independent sanctions on Iran, a senior
government source said Wednesday amid a series of warnings from Iranian officials to refrain from joining the U.S. sanctions campaign against Tehran.
Seoul has been stuck between Washington's demand for more measures against Iran in addition to U.N.-authorized sanctions and Iran's warning to South Korean companies operating in the Middle
Eastern nation that such sanctions could jeopardize their bilateral trade relationship.
"We will review the issue of sanctions on Iran without a hurry after taking the international trend into account and having
sufficient consultations with related countries," a senior government source said on the condition of anonymity.
The remark suggests that South Korea could wait until October, when the U.S. is expected to come up with details of its own sanctions against Iran, before making a decision on whether to
adopt similar measures.
Washington has been drumming up international support for its push to censure Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment
program that the U.S. suspects could be used for a possible nuclear weapons program. Iran claims the program is only used for atomic power.
After adopting independent sanctions against Iran last month, the U.S. has since been urging other nations to join its campaign for
pressuring Iran. The European Union, Australia and Canada have already complied with Washington's appeal by adopting their own
independent sanctions. Last week, Japan also followed suit.
South Korean officials have said that Seoul fully supports and agrees with U.S. nonproliferation concerns and that they have
worked closely with Washington officials to ensure that normal transactions with Iran outside the non-proliferation area will be spared from sanctions.
Iranian officials have stepped up warnings of retaliation against Seoul.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Iran's ambassador to Seoul, Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari, said Monday that South Korea
shouldn't feel obligated to comply with the U.S. request for additional sanctions and jeopardize its relations with the Middle Eastern nation.
Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has also warned that Iran could raise the customs duties and tax for South Korean products by 200 percent to punish Seoul if it joins the U.S. sanctions campaign, according to Iranian news reports.
At the center of Washington's demand for more sanctions is Bank Mellat, an Iranian bank accused of facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian nuclear, missile and defense entities.
Washington wants Seoul to shut down the bank's South Korean branch, but Iran opposes closing the branch, claiming that there is
no proof that it was involved in illicit activities.