Seoul Interested in Investment Opportunities

A top South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's new government, led by President Moon Jae-in, who took office in May, is keen to forge closer collaboration with Iran, particularly by making investment in the country's development projects.

"In recent years, fortunately, the two governments have had great collaboration in various fields, particularly energy and construction, and we are after expansion of cooperation in information technology as well," Speaker of South Korea's National Assembly Chung Sye-kyun said.

The legislator was speaking in a press conference with Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani after their meeting in Tehran on Friday, IRNA reported.

He was leading a South Korean parliamentary delegation to attend the oath-taking ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Saturday.

Chung said the South Korean Parliament is working to facilitate closer ties by removing obstacles, especially banking issues.

"Fortunately, there has been real progress on settlement of banking problems and we should keep going until remaining issues are sorted out," he said.

Larijani said they discussed expansion of parliamentary and economic relations, including investment priorities in Iran.

"We are now better positioned for Korean investments in Iran and grounds are being prepared for them to invest in [Iran's] free zones. Iran is interested in accelerating cooperation in important fields, including energy, transport, environment and high tech," he said.

***Pyongyang's Anti-US Resistance Hailed

In a separate meeting on Friday, the top Iranian lawmaker sat down for talks with Chung's counterpart from its northern neighbor, North Korea.

In the meeting with Kim Yong-nam, the head of North Korea's Parliament, Larijani hailed the country's resistance against the bullying US, expressing hope that hegemonic powers would understand sooner that the path of intimidating others into accepting their demands leads them nowhere.

Larijani said Iran supports the right of all countries to peaceful nuclear energy, but it deems nuclear weapons detrimental to the security of the world.

Kim said his country seeks peace in the world, but it would not budge even an inch on its national interests.

"Until the US stops its antagonistic policy and its threatening language, we will deal with it harshly," he said, adding that the country will continue its military buildup because the history shows the US attacks countries with weak military power.

Also on Friday, Larijani held separate meetings with parliamentary delegations converging on Tehran for Rouhani's inauguration for a second term.