Can Iran use its frozen funds in South Korea to import medicine?

TEHRAN, Iran, Sep. 3 Trend: South Korea cannot meet all of Iran's pharmaceutical needs in exchange for Iran`s blocked money and major imported medicines are supplied through European countries and India, the head of the Health Economic Committee in Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Mahmoud Najafi Arab said, Trend reports citing ILNA. In July, President Hassan Rouhani had reacted to Seoul’s blocking of Iranian assets, saying that “South Korea’s ban on Iran’s use of its central bank resources to buy basic goods, medicine, and humanitarian items is by no means acceptable, and we expect Seoul to lift this restriction as soon as possible.” Also in May, the Iranian Foreign Ministry had said that preliminary steps were taken to set up a channel to allow Iran to use its funds in South Korea to buy humanitarian goods. Weeks later South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Seoul was sending $500,000 worth of medicine to Iran. The head of the Health Economic Committee in Tehran Chamber of Commerce, expressed his disagreement with the idea of importing medicine from South Korea adding that "So far, I have not received any news about receiving health-related items in exchange for Iran`s frozen reserves in South Korea,” “It is also impossible to import those items from South Korea in exchange for demands because our country imports only a limited number of drugs from this country,” he added. He went on to explain that South Korea cannot meet all of Iran's medical needs. "Of course, this is not the case for European countries,” he said referring to channels that allow Iran to use its funds in other countries to buy humanitarian goods. “Our country has two types of medical imports; first one is the imports of medicine and the other the imports of raw materials for medical use, most of which are imported from India, China and only fraction of it from South Korea,” he said.