[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] The Korean government announced on the 23rd that it paid Iran's United Nations (UN) contributions using Iran's frozen funds held domestically. This came after Iran requested the Korean government to use the frozen funds to pay the contributions following Iran's loss of voting rights at the UN General Assembly due to overdue contributions on the 12th.
On the same day, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that, in cooperation with the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the UN Secretariat, and other related agencies, it completed the payment of Iran's UN contributions amounting to 18 million dollars (approximately 22.2 billion KRW) using Iran's won-denominated funds held domestically on the 21st.
The Iranian government urgently requested the Korean government on the 13th, immediately after losing voting rights at the UN General Assembly, to pay the UN contributions using Iran's frozen funds held in Korea. Based on the experience of paying Iran's UN contributions of 16 million dollars (approximately 18.4 billion KRW) in won-denominated funds in June last year, the government promptly coordinated the transfer procedures of Iranian funds with OFAC, the UN Secretariat, financial institutions, and other related agencies.
The frozen Iranian funds in Korea are estimated to be around 7 billion dollars. In the past, Iran opened won-denominated accounts under the name of the Central Bank at IBK Industrial Bank and Woori Bank to receive payments for crude oil exports, but transactions through these accounts were suspended after the US government placed the Central Bank of Iran on the sanctions list in 2018.
With the completion of this UN contribution payment, Iran's voting rights at the UN General Assembly are expected to be immediately restored.
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