The ministry’s comments came after South Korea was excluded from a list of nearly a dozen countries–including Japan–exempted by the U.S. from sanctions on Iran.
South Korea was excluded from the list as it is already exempt from U.S. sanctions relating to non-oil trade, imposed from Feb. 29, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Sanctions relating to oil-related trade, which could impact South Korea, are slated to be imposed as early as June 28, the ministry said.
In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. was exempting many countries from tighter sanctions as they had “significantly reduced” oil purchases from Iran.
-By Min-Jeong Lee