Seoul Checking Iran's Ad Ban

Hankooki - The South Korean government Tuesday started to verify whether the Iranian government actually banned local newspapers from advertising South Korean goods, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

Reuters reported on Monday that Iran stepped up its ongoing commercial attack on South Korea by barring newspapers from printing advertisements of Korean-made products.

A newspaper editor, who refused to be identified, told Reuters that he received a verbal order not to publish advertisements of South Korean companies last week from the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.

Another editor also said he supposed the ban was aimed at forcing South Korea not to vote against Iran at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting slated for Thursday.

``We’re trying to make sure whether the news report was true. But we don’t expect the Iranian government to acknowledge they actually gave such an order to some newspapers,’’ an official of the ministry told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity. ``So far, it seems that not all Iranian newspapers were told not to carry advertisements of Korean firms.’’

Another ministry official said Iran seems to be trying to coerce Korean firms into urging the government to show a more favorable attitude toward Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

``I hope the (South) Korean news media will stay away from the matter as more and more news articles will make the situation worse for us. It’s no good for the government to get involved in Iran’s scheme,’’ said the official.

Since October, the Iranian government began disrupting bilateral trade with South Korea by unofficially imposing import bans on many South Korean goods. It has frequently disallowed or delayed the opening of letters of credit sought by Iranian importers.

In September, South Korea cooperated with the United States and the European Union to introduce a strict resolution against Iran at a meeting of the U.N.’s atomic energy watchdog.

Earlier this month Iran removed LG, a South Korean conglomerate, as a sponsor of a four-nation soccer tournament held in Tehran and a similar informal import ban has also been applied on British goods for about a month, according to Reuters.

AFP reported, however, at least three major dailies including the mass-circulating Hamshahri and Jam-e-Jam papers were carrying advertisements for South Korean cars and electrical goods as usual on Monday.