U.S. calls on S. Korea to reduce purchase of Iranian oil

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. diplomat urged South Korea on Tuesday to cut its purchase of crude oil from Iran in concert with the U.S.-led campaign to punish Tehran for its nuclear program, but assured that Washington will help Seoul minimize fallout from the sanctions. Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, announced the U.S. stance during talks in Seoul with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-Shin earlier in the day. "We are urging all of our partners to help us, work with us in putting more pressure on the government of Iran to get them to negotiate seriously," said Einhorn, who arrived in Seoul on Monday for a three-day visit. "In particular, we are urging them to reduce their purchases of crude oil from Iran and we are urging them to unwind their financial dealings with the Central Bank of Iran," the U.S. official said. Mindful of concerns in South Korea, Einhorn said, "But I want to say very importantly, that we want to do these things while maintaining stability of international oil markets... and we want to do this while being very sensitive to the economic interests of our close allies like the ROK (South Korea) and South Korean companies." "We are confident that working together we can send this signal and we can do it without the adverse effects that I know many in South Korea are concerned about," he said. Accompanied by Daniel Glaser, the U.S. Department of Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, Einhorn is due to meet with senior officials from South Korea's finance and energy ministries later in the day. In an apparent move to increase pressure on South Korea to join the toughened U.S. sanctions, Einhorn linked Iran's nuclear issue to North Korea. "(The South Korean government) knows that the situations in Iran and in North Korea are related. I think progress in one will help us achieve progress on another," he said. "That's why it is so important that our two governments work closely together on this Iran problem." After talks with South Korean officials, Glaser told reporters that, "We have already had some very good discussions on this with the government of Korea. We're looking forward to more discussions on the days and weeks to come." "And we're looking forward to understanding how Korea intends to make its decisions with respect to its role in the international efforts in this regard," Glaser said. Late last month, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that imposes tough sanctions against financial institutions dealing with the central bank of Iran. The new U.S. sanctions, however, have placed South Korea in a difficult position, as Seoul imports some 10 percent of its crude oil needs from Tehran. Kim said that South Korea is "committed to strongly supporting and participating in international efforts to resolve this issue." However, Kim emphasized concerns that the sanctions against Iran could hit the South Korean economy if it scales back crude oil trade with Tehran. "In fact, many Koreans are quite worried about the sanctions against Iran at this time," Kim said. "But I do hope we closely cooperate with each other and try to minimize this adverse effect." During his visit to Seoul last month, Einhorn denied that he specifically asked South Korea to stop purchases of crude oil from Iran, but said the U.S. would welcome such a decision by Seoul. Iranian crude oil accounted for 8.3 percent of South Korea's total imports in 2010, but the ratio rose to 9.6 percent in the first 11 months of last year. Currently, South Korea is dealing with Iran's central bank to make payments for its crude oil imports. (END)