Posted on 08/21/2010 8:18:42 AM PDT by luckybogey
Among U.S. allies across the world, Korea faces perhaps the biggest dilemma over the U.S.-initiated sanctions against Iran for its nuclear development program. Iran is Korea’s biggest export market in the Middle East and joining in the sanctions will instantly affect the trade with a two-way volume of $1 billion. But Seoul, on the joint front with Washington in the hard process of denuclearizing North Korea, cannot afford to lose U.S. confidence in its support for the global nonproliferation efforts.
Washington delivered its specific requests for the anti-Iranian measures when Robert Einhorn, the State Department’s special advisor, visited Seoul earlier this month. Washington announced detailed enforcement regulations for the Iran Sanctions Act Tuesday and Seoul cannot further delay taking actions, such as those on the Mellat Bank operating in Korea.
Officials from the Ministry of Planning and Finance and the Financial Supervisory Board huddled together to work on “countermeasures” but could not go further than reviewing the difficult situation. At the moment, the best they can do is acquiring full details of the new regulations and provide them for Korean traders.
It is reported that Mellat Bank, CISCO Shipping Co. and Iran Petrochemical Commercial Co., which have operations here, are on the U.S. blacklist. Financial authorities have found some “obscure” transactions of the Iranian bank but they were not of the serious level to justify an immediate shut-down. Freezing of the bank’s assets here could have a significant impact as it handles much of the remittances to and from Iran...
Korea should closely watch the actions being taken by the European Union, Japan and even China so as not to fall behind the international community. Every action Seoul would take on Iranian firms, or any other foreign entity for that matter, should be based on Korea’s domestic and international laws and cannot be dictated by a U.S. law such as the Iran Sanctions Act. Seoul’s regulators should look for clear evidence of the Mellat Bank making transactions related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Korean firms doing business with Iran include 18 major companies including Doosan, LG, Samsung and SK. These conglomerates have somehow learnt how to tide over the political impacts on their global businesses, such as indirect money wiring through a third country. The government should do all it can to prevent break-off of transactions between large and small Korean firms and their Iranian counterparts.
"... USFK includes more than 85 active installations in the Republic of Korea and has about 37,500 US military personnel assigned in Korea. Major U.S. units in the ROK include the Eighth U.S. Army and Seventh Air Force.
Principal equipment in EUSA includes 140 M1A1 tanks, 170 Bradley armored vehicles, 30 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 30 MRLs as well as a wide range of surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, e.g., Patriot, and 70 AH-64 helicopters..."
Source: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/dod/usfk.htm
Why are US bases in Korea? The cost of empire... http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?Itemid=74&id=31&jumival=3388&option=com_content&task=view
Hey the Free Traders tell us that trade brings peace.
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