South Korea plans to import more Iranian crude

South Korea’s deputy trade minister says his country is planning to increase crude oil imports from Iran after sanctions against Iran’s economic sectors are lifted.

“The amount of Iranian oil imports has halved since the sanctions, but the quality of Iranian crude oil is quite good and its condensate is very useful,” Woo Tae-hee told Korean media after his recent official visit to the Islamic Republic.

The Korean official added that if sanctions imposed on Iran are lifted, “we may have to discuss increasing the oil imports once again.”

Sanctions were imposed on Iran by the United States and the European Union at the beginning of 2012, with Western countries claiming that there was diversion in Iran’s nuclear program toward military purposes. Iran rejected Western countries’ claims categorically, insisting that its civilian nuclear program was only meant for peaceful purposes.