TEHRAN – The Republic of Korea’s ambassador to Tehran says President Park Geun-hye’s visit to Iran will “definitely open a new chapter in relations”.

“Definitely her visit will open a new chapter in our relations, because it is the very first Korean president’s visit to your country and Iran’s president has never visited Korea and it is the first event in our long history,” Ambassador Kim Seung-Ho said in an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times in his office on Monday.

President Park will start a three-day visit to Iran on May 1. Park, who will be leading a delegation of some 200 businesspeople, plans to initiate discussions with Iran on a wide range of areas including energy and engineering. The visit will be the first by a South Korean leader since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1962.

The visit follows the lifting of sanctions on Iran under a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and great powers in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January.

Ambassador Kim said Seoul attaches great importance to Park’s trip to Iran, seeming confident that the visit will expand cooperation between the two countries in many areas.

“Our cooperative activities have not been so great and her visit will be a good momentum for deepening our relations,” the ambassador noted.

“So far our relations are rather exchanging visits, selling and buying products, but her visit will open up new opportunity where the Korean companies and the Iranian part can be more linked together,” Korea’s top diplomat in Tehran explained.

‘A Korean bank is discussing opening branch in Iran’

The ambassador also said that Korean companies plan to invest heavily in Iran and the banking relations will be expanded too.

“The banking cooperation will be very much facilitated. One of the Korean banks is discussing opening a branch in Iran and then there are many MOUs in banking area. If the banking cooperation is established, then our economic relations will be strongly bonded together,” he explained.

Commenting on Iran’s status in Korea’s foreign economic policy, Kim said, “Iran has a great importance in our foreign economic policy.”

He added, “Korea is one of the largest oil consumers in the world, but we do not produce even one single drop of oil and traditionally Iran has been our second largest oil supplier and more than 80-90 percent of our oil is transferred through your Hormuz strait.”

The ambassador also said since Korea “is very dependent on the Middle East oil” the security in the region is vital to the Korean government.

And Iran’s role in maintaining security in the region is one of the areas of interest in the Korean foreign policy, he pointed out.

Kim also said the two countries have already had “good relations” in auto industry, shipbuilding and petrochemicals.

However, he said the level of cooperation has been reduced by one third due to the sanctions on Iran and it is necessary to restore it to the previous level, including in industrial area, as soon as possible.

“We have to explore more avenues of cooperation in areas of culture, tourism, health, maritime, banking, judiciary, academia, media and local government exchange. And relations in the mentioned areas will be opened up in the Korean president’s visit,” he stated.

On bilateral relations during the time of sanctions against Iran, he said, “Korea is a member of the international community and the UN. Korea has obligations to comply with internationally imposed commitments. So, Korea had no other way but to respect the UN sanctions, but Iran is a very important country to Korea. Korea had devised a unique way to continue trade with Iran even during the sanctions time.”

Kim also said, “During Madame Park’s visit some MOUs will be signed in fields of information, communications and technology.”

On the prospect of cooperation between Iran and South Korea in nuclear industry, the diplomat said Korea is “open” to cooperation with Iran in nuclear area. However, he said since the two countries have not had cooperation in the nuclear field it will take time for both sides to establish cooperation.

Elsewhere, he said that a memorandum of understanding on environment protection is planned to be signed during Park’s visit.

“As far as the environment is concerned, I think one MOU will be signed in the area of environment… There are also many Korean companies who have expertise to deal with the pollution problems. So, I think the cooperation in environmental area will be expanded,” he remarked.

He added that the president will be accompanied by one of the major Korean water companies during the trip.

The diplomat said the focus of Iran-South Korea relations has been on economy and trade, yet in addition to oil and gas Iran has plenty of other things to show to the world.

He said that his embassy in Tehran has organized a cultural event in which both Iranian and Korean cultural teams will have programs.

The event is scheduled to take place during the Korean president’s visit to Iran.

Elsewhere, he said that the Korean embassy in Iran has facilitated the visa procedure for the Iranians.

The embassy has decreased the required documents for the Iranian businessmen from 12 documents to seven, he said.

(The interview is conducted by Negar Asadi)

NA/PA