Iran: To ban imports of Korean home appliances: Ali Khamenei
September 30
Iran’s Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei (82)
On September 5, Rev. Ali Hamenei sent a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi and others.
In the letter
“Resume imports from two Korean companies”
“Boning Iran’s domestic consumer electronics companies”
Serious concerns were written.
He reported that he had ordered “a ban on imports of all home appliances, especially Korean home appliances.”
2 Korean companies:
No company is specified.
However, it was in the Iran market,
Presumed to be Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
Foreign Minister Abdullahian:
Foreign Minister Abdrahian
To solve the frozen Korean won funding problem
He wants the Korean side to do double the effort,
He asked Secretary Chung.
Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chung:
There is a clear recognition that the frozen funds are owned by the Iranian people.
Even in the sanctions situation so far, Iran’s UN contribution was paid with frozen funds.
We will continue to make efforts in the future.
Joongang Ilbo | JoongAng Ilbo
https://s.japanese.joins.com/JArticle/283450?sectcode=210&servcode=200
Iran’s Raisi Bans Korean Home Appliances On Leader’s Orders
After a letter from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,
President Ebrahim Raisi
has insisted Iran will not take imports from South Korea’s LG and Samsung.This follows speculation for some months that
a reported agreement over using Iranian money frozen in Korean banks to buy humanitarian goods might be extended to cover Korean-made home appliances,
which dropped out of the Iranian market when the United States introduced stringent banking sanctions in 2018.
The letter, signed by Khamenei office chief Mohammad Mohammadi Golpaygani
September 6, cited a call from Iranian manufacturers that Korean home appliances be kept out.On Thursday, two days after the ban was made public,
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone talk with his Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong and urged him to redouble efforts to address the issue.
The value of Iran’s home appliances market
has been estimated at between 4.5 to 6 billion dollars.
Aside from problems with US sanctions, Iran has for several years
not issued import permits for home-appliances if comparable items are made at home.
Khamenei’s letter
referred only to “two South Korean companies” but meant LG and Samsung,who ceased trade with Iran after the US introduced in 2018 financial sanctions threatening third parties in 2018,
despite Iran’s warning it would be difficult for them to return once US sanctions ended.
The Korean firms
had previously established an important market, including the assembly in Iran by Iranian companies of a variety of goods including air conditioners, and TV and audio sets.