Iranian state media reported that the Foreign Ministry summoned the South Korean ambassador to protest the country’s President Yoon Sok Yul’s statement that the Islamic Republic is the “enemy” of the UAE.
Yoon, who was addressing his country’s forces stationed in Abu Dhabi this week, said South Korea and the UAE are in “very similar” circumstances, facing North Korea and Iran as “the enemy and the biggest threat.”
His comments sparked a rare spat between Seoul and Tehran at a time of already tense relations over frozen Iranian funds in South Korea and suspected arms deals between Iran and North Korea.
On Wednesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs, Reza Najafi, summoned Yoon Kang-hyun, the South Korean ambassador, to protest Yoon’s “interfering remarks.”
The agency said that Najafi “referred to the firm and friendly relations that bind the Islamic Republic of Iran with most of the Persian Gulf countries,” describing Yoon’s statement as “interfering” and “undermining peace and stability in the region.”
Yoon’s office said his comment was intended to encourage the soldiers. On Tuesday, South Korea’s foreign ministry said it had provided explanations to Tehran and that its commitment to developing bilateral ties had not changed.
Opposition deputies criticized what happened as a “diplomatic disaster”, and some members of Yoon’s own party said he should have been more careful.
Najafi also accused Sol of adopting a “hostile approach” towards Iran, referring to his country’s frozen funds.
“South Korea’s failure to take effective action to solve the aforementioned problems will prompt Iran to reconsider relations,” Iran News Agency quoted him as saying.
Iran has repeatedly demanded the release of about $7 billion of its funds frozen in South Korean banks under US sanctions.
Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018 after former President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
South Korea was once one of the largest buyers of Iranian crude oil in Asia, and the two countries held talks on ways to unfreeze funds and resume oil trade after negotiations to revive the nuclear deal began last year.