|
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.
|
