By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

South Korea will not change its stance on Iran’s nuclear programs as Seoul strongly supports the international move to stop nuclear proliferation, a high-ranking official in Seoul said on Tuesday.

It was South Korea’s reaction to Iran’s recent warning that Teheran will ``reconsider’’ the two countries’ relationship if Seoul behaves unfavorably to Teheran at a voting session of the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in March.

The official did not say whether Seoul will approve another IAEA resolution, which may criticize Iran’s continuing efforts to maintain nuclear weapons programs or refer the Islamic state to the U.N. Security Council _ the worst case for Teheran.

``It is not good to elaborate on the matter now because we can’t predict what kinds of resolution will be drafted in March,’’ the official told The Korea Times, requesting not to be named. ``But our principle policy on nuclear non-proliferation has not been changed.’’

In a resolution on Sept. 24, the IAEA’s board declared Iran ``in non-compliance’’ with its anti-nuclear commitments and implied that it could be referred to the U.N. Security Council.

A total of 22 countries, including South Korea, voted for the resolution, while 12 other countries, including China and Russia, abstained. One country voted against the resolution.

South Korea’s policy on nuclear issue has been in sync with the United States as both are currently trying to persuade North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons programs.

The Hankyoreh, a newspaper in Seoul, quoted Mehdi Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Asian, Pacific and Common Wealth of Independent States Affairs, as saying that Iran will ``reconsider’’ its relationship with South Korea if Seoul votes for the IAEA resolution in March.

Safari, however, answered ``no comment’’ to a question on what kinds of measures the Teheran government will take should Seoul not act favorably to Teheran.

The Iranian embassy in Seoul declined to make comments on the news story either.

``I’ve read the news,’’ Ali Piri, minister counselor of the embassy, said in a telephone interview. ``But I have no comments on that because I was not there for the interview (on Jan. 1) and I even don’t know what the exact questions were.’’

Piri, however, said that, despite this new round of diplomatic row, he does not worry about the two countries’ relations, which he described as ``solid’’ and ``excellent.’’

``Unfortunately, there were some problems three months ago,’’ he said. ``But those problems have been solved. We had exchanged some delegations and have had excellent discussions. We are not worried about the relations.’’

In October, Iran temporarily halted imports of South Korean goods. The import ban was lifted weeks after South Korea dispatched a vice foreign minister to Iran. But it currently takes much longer for South Korean exporters to pass Teheran’s paperwork process.

``It is true that it takes longer than before,’’ the Seoul official said. ``But we don’t need to reach a hasty conclusion. The time lag might be necessary because Iran’s commerce department has created a new bureau that is in charge of approving requests for imports.’’

Around 20 South Korean companies, such as LG Electronics, are operating branch offices in Iran.

The two countries’ trade volume reaches $4.6 billion a year. South Korea’s main export items are steel, plastics, automobiles and electronic goods. Around 90 percent of Iran’s exports to South Korea is crude oil.

im@koreatimes.co.kr