Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Iran this week as the two countries seek to bolster bilateral ties in the wake of a nuclear deal with implications also for North Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Yun’s visit to Tehran on Saturday will be the first by a South Korean foreign minister in 14 years, and comes four months after Iran struck a landmark deal with the United States and other world powers to curb its uranium enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Yun is scheduled to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on wide-ranging issues, including progress on the deal’s implementation, bilateral ties and the political situation in their respective regions, the ministry said.
Zarif was Iran’s top negotiator for the nuclear deal.
Yun’s visit, which will include a courtesy call on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, is expected to give further momentum to international efforts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the ministry said.
Yun and Zarif held talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last year and again in September.
South Korea has shown renewed interest in business opportunities in the oil-rich nation as the lifting of international sanctions will allow it to tap into Iran’s energy sector.
The sanctions on Iran will remain in place until after the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies whether the country is abiding by the agreement, a process expected to be completed in the first half of next year.
Ahead of his trip to Iran, Yun will visit Luxembourg from Thursday to Friday to attend a foreign ministerial meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting, involving 51 nations, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (Yonhap)
