MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Yonhap news agency, Park will meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday. This is the first meeting of heads of Iran and South Korea since the bilateral diplomatic relations between the countries were established in 1962.
The two presidents will discuss the situation in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula, according to the media outlet. Seoul is also eager to participate in Iran’s infrastructure development projects which aim to recover its economy after the international sanctions against it were lifted, the news agency reported.
"We expect the trip to serve as an occasion to take a new leap forward in bilateral ties, which have been stalled due to the international sanctions," Kim Kyou-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, said, as quoted by the media outlet.
On July 14, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries comprising Russia, the United States, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
In January, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified that Iran was in compliance with the terms of the JCPOA, which led to the immediate lifting of the UN, US and EU sanctions linked to the country's nuclear program.