South Korea might run along United States to ban petrochemical imports from Iran

South Korea might run along United States to ban petrochemical imports from Iran

South Korea looks forward to ban the petrochemical imports from Iran, after the raise of sanctions by United States, Britain and Canada.

A source from S. Korea said, "We are cautiously considering an import ban on Iranian petrochemical products, and currently evaluating a possible impact of the ban.”

The sanctions are imposed on Iran due to its confidential nuclear program that aims to achieve weapons. It is also stated that Iran is working on atomic bomb and has secretly designed it.

Seoul is considering the sanctions following a two-day visit by the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who discussed Iran.

The United States, Britain and Canada announced on Monday new sanctions against Iran in response to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency suggesting Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb.

The European Union agreed in principle on Tuesday to sanction some 200 Iranian people, companies and organisations and France mooted the idea of a Europe-wide ban on Iranian crude imports.

Petrochemicals that could be affected include butadiene, paraxylene and other intermediates produced by processing naphtha, another source said.

The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

South Korea imported $350 million (226 million pound) in Iranian petrochemicals last year, while exporting $450 million of its petrochemicals to Iran. That would represent a small part of South Korea’s global trade in petrochemicals, which last year totalled
$49 billion.

"There is going to be a very miniscule economic impact for the two nations if Korea issues a petrochemical sanction," said Jang Ji-Hyang, director of Middle East and North African studies, at the Seoul-based Asian Institute of Policy Studies.

"Even though Korea is one of the most prominent buyers of petrochemical products, the amount imported is not so significant for the Gulf nations."

Sherman visited South Korea on Monday and Tuesday, South Korea’s foreign affairs ministry said. She discussed Iran nuclear issues during the trip. She was in Japan first and visited China after her stop over at Seoul.

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Posted by Samer Ahmed on Nov 25 2011. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry