The U.S. reportedly says its position on the Iran sanctions is unchanged as Iran continues to demand that South Korea return its assets frozen under the sanctions.
This comes after South Korea s Prime Minister Chung Sye-kun, on a visit to Iran this past week, said that the money is Iran s and should be returned to its owner, though noting that they would first have to find a way. Yonhap News reported the U.S. stance on the issue, citing a State Department spokesperson who asked not to be identified.
Washington has said before that there will be no sanctions relief for Iran until it returns to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
ABCDEFG SEOUL, April 11 (Yonhap) South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun departed for Iran on Sunday for bilateral talks amid lingering tension over Tehran s call to unlock its funds frozen here under U.S. sanctions. During his three-day visit that ends Tuesday, Chung is expected to discuss ways to enhance the Seoul-Tehran relations and other matters. The visit marks the first such trip by a South Korean premier in 44 years. The visit came two days after the Iranian government released a Korean oil tanker and its captain who were detained over alleged oil pollution. The detainment was widely seen as Teheran s retaliation against South Korea s seizure of some US$7 billion Iranian funds in early January, related to the U.S. nuclear sanctions on Iran.
Biden calls settlement win for American workers and the American auto industry
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Energy Solution (LGES) and SK Innovation (SKI) reached an eleventh-hour settlement over their protracted battery dispute, leaving U.S. President Joe Biden as the main beneficiary through his green economy drive, which aims to create more jobs by nurturing eco-friendly businesses, industry officials said Sunday.
The two Korean EV battery makers said Sunday that they reached a settlement on the dispute over claims that SKI misappropriated LGES trade secrets. The settlement came a day before the deadline for Biden s veto of a U.S. International Trade Commission s (USITC) decision to ban SKI from importing some batteries into the U.S.