Korea, Iran seek ministerial talks at U.N

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Iran are seeking to hold their first bilateral talks in nearly six years in New York this week in apparent efforts to heal ties dampened by Tehran’s suspected military cooperation with Pyongyang and international sanctions, government sources said Monday.

The meeting between Yun Byung-se and Mohammad Javad Zarif is likely to take place Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where President Park Geun-hye is scheduled to deliver a speech on Wednesday. The two countries’ top diplomats last met in November 2008.

They are expected to swap views on ways to invigorate economic and cultural exchanges, as well as the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East.

While Yun may call for an end to clandestine arms trade or cooperation with North Korea, Zarif could express hopes for greater economic relations. 

Zarif is one of the some two dozen foreign ministers slated for sideline meetings with Yun. On Sunday, Zarif met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and discussed the ongoing nuclear negotiations and threats posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group, according to Washington officials.

A Seoul official said she could not confirm the upcoming consultation between Yun and Zarif, adding the minister’s schedule is not yet fixed.

Yet the gathering is likely to gain traction as it is to come shortly after North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong travels to Iran for talks with Zarif and a visit to President Hassan Rouhani. Pyongyang and Tehran are believed to have long fostered a covert partnership on the development of atomic weapons and ballistic missiles.

With Iran being under crippling sanctions by the U.S. and Europe over its nuclear program, South Korea, a major importer of Iranian crude, has sharply cut its import volumes, frozen transactions with some of its banks and thus squeezed oil revenues.

Korea is the world’s fifth-biggest buyer of crude and imports almost all its oil needs.

But Seoul has been looking to revive high-level exchanges and mend the ties since the Islamic Republic clinched a landmark deal to curb its nuclear program in November 2013 with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, with the help of the European Union.

Later that month, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo visited Tehran and met with his counterpart Ibrahim Rahimpour, who came to Seoul this May.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)