1. Last week in Vienna, Vice Minister Choi Jong Kun and U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley discussed various issues arising from sanctions against Iran, including Korea's remittance of arbitral award to the Dayyani family in Iran. The U.S. subsequently notified Korea of the issuance of an OFAC specific license, dated January 6, with regard to the remittance of the arbitral award.

※ The Dayyanis, a major shareholder of Entekhab, an Iranian home appliance company, initiated an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) arbitration against the government of the Republic of Korea in 2015 over the down payment which was confiscated in the process of acquiring Daewoo Electronics. In 2018, the arbitration tribunal ruled in favor of the Dayyanis, but as there are U.S. sanctions against Iran, restrictions on financial transactions with Iran have hampered Korea‘s payment of the arbitral award.

2. The specific license, for which the Republic of Korea and U.S. authorities have been in close consultations, approves the use of the U.S. financial system for the execution of the arbitral award to the Iranian private investors, namely the Dayyani family.

3. The specific license will serve as an important basis for the conclusion of the ISDS arbitration case, which has been one of the pending issues between Korea and Iran. The recent progress is expected to further contribute to the improvement of the Korea-Iran relations.