Deputy Minister Lee Okwon to US Treasury: "Considering Additional Sanctions Against Russia Beyond Strategic Goods Export Ban"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The government has begun banning the export of strategic materials to Russia in relation to the Ukraine crisis and is reviewing additional sanction measures. It has expressed its intention to actively participate in the international community's sanctions against Russia to the U.S. government.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 1st, Lee Eokwon, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, who is visiting the United States, held a bilateral meeting with Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington D.C. on the 28th of last month local time, discussing cooperation measures on major issues such as sanctions against Russia and the freezing of Iranian funds.

At the meeting, Vice Minister Lee expressed a strong willingness to actively cooperate with the international community's sanctions against Russia related to the Ukraine crisis.

Vice Minister Lee conveyed that in addition to the export ban on strategic materials to Russia, additional sanction measures are being reviewed, and regarding specific details of participation in financial sanctions against Russia such as exclusion from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), an announcement will be made promptly once consultations and reviews among related ministries are completed.

Deputy Secretary Adeyemo expressed gratitude for the Korean government's proactive measures and joint response intentions, stating that armed invasions like the current situation must never be tolerated under any circumstances. He emphasized close cooperation among allied countries in response and said that they will continue to actively consult with Korea, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Vice Minister Lee also highly evaluated the bilateral cooperation to resolve the issue of Iranian won-denominated funds frozen in Korea due to financial sanctions against Iran and mentioned hopes that the issue of transferring frozen funds will be resolved in the Vienna nuclear negotiations.

Meanwhile, Vice Minister Lee held high-level bilateral meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on the 25th and 28th of last month to discuss major cooperation agendas with each organization and held signing ceremonies for participation in multilateral funds and trust fund contributions.

Vice Minister Lee expressed Korea's intention to participate in the EBRD Climate Action Special Fund and signed a Letter of Intent (LOI). Korea plans to participate in the fund with a $100 million limit of concessional loans through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and a trust fund of $4.5 million. Vice Minister Lee emphasized that this decision demonstrates Korea's active commitment to EBRD's climate change response efforts and also signifies the establishment of the first concessional loan framework between Korea and EBRD. Vice President Bowman highlighted the importance of the EBRD knowledge management system supported by the Korean trust fund and requested the Vice President's support for development in this area.

At the IDB headquarters, Vice Minister Lee held a bilateral meeting with President Mauricio Claver-Carone and signed a trust fund contribution agreement committing to contribute $4 million to the IDB Financial Innovation Cooperation Fund within this year. Vice Minister Lee expressed support for the upcoming IDB general capital increase to respond to expanded development demands such as overcoming COVID-19 and requested continuous expansion of Korea's shareholding (0.004%, ranked joint 47th with China among 48 countries) considering Korea's economic scale and external status. President Claver-Carone responded that he would pay attention to securing appropriate representation for Korea during the future IDB governance reform process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.