Iran Revolutionary Guards Seize South Korean-Flagged Tanker in Gulf, Seoul Demands Release

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel approaches an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. (AP file photo)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel approaches an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. (AP file photo)
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Iran Revolutionary Guards Seize South Korean-Flagged Tanker in Gulf, Seoul Demands Release

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel approaches an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. (AP file photo)
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel approaches an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. (AP file photo)

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew, Iranian media said on Monday, amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to US sanctions.

Seoul confirmed the seizure of a South Korean chemical tanker by Iranian authorities in the waters off Oman, and demanded its immediate release.

Several Iranian media outlets, including state TV, said the Guards navy captured the vessel for polluting the Gulf with chemicals.

“According to initial reports by local officials, it is purely a technical matter and the ship was taken to shore for polluting the sea,” state television quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency published pictures showing the Guards’ speed boats escorting the tanker HANKUK CHEMI, which it said was carrying 7,200 tons of ethanol.

It said the vessel’s detained crew members included nationals of South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Iran’s state TV said the tanker was being held at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city. The ship had 20 crew members, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.

The US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet is aware of the incident and is monitoring the situation, spokeswoman Rebecca Rebarich said in response to a Reuters query.

The incident comes ahead of an expected visit by South Korea’s deputy foreign minister to Tehran. Khatibzadeh said the visit would happen in coming days, during which officials would discuss Iran’s demand that South Korea release $7 billion in funds frozen in South Korean banks because of US sanctions.

The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after Washington withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers. Under that deal, Iran had agreed to curb its nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

Iran has retaliated by bypassing the restrictions of the deal step-by-step. In a move that could complicate efforts by US President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the deal, Tehran said on Monday it had resumed 20% uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility.

In early 2019, Iran jacked up tensions in the world’s busiest oil waterway by seizing British-flagged tanker Stena Impero, two weeks after a British warship had intercepted an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar.



Zelenskiy Says Ready to Exchange N. Korean Soldiers for Ukrainians Held in Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
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Zelenskiy Says Ready to Exchange N. Korean Soldiers for Ukrainians Held in Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday Kyiv is ready to hand over North Korean soldiers to their leader Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
"In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It's only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others," Zelenskiy said on the social media platform X.
Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entry into the nearly three-year-old war last autumn.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 troops from Russia's ally North Korea have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow's forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence, Reuters reported.
Zelenskiy has said Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses.
"Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un's soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy posted a short video showing the interrogation of two men who are presented as North Korean soldiers. One of them is lying on a bed with bandaged hands, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise.
He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but said he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.
Reuters could not verify the video.
Zelenskiy said that for those North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and "those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean (language) will be given that opportunity."
Zelenskiy provided no specific details.