S Korea: to review plans to cut Iran crude imports

Wall Street Journal: South Korea will review its plans to cut Iranian crude imports and “closely discuss” the issue with the U.S., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Wednesday. It didn’t elaborate. The Wall Street Journal

SEOUL (Dow Jones)–South Korea will review its plans to cut Iranian crude imports and “closely discuss” the issue with the U.S., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Wednesday. It didn’t elaborate.

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