Yang Ki-wook, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources director-general of industrial resource security, said at a government briefing that Washington had confirmed payments in Chinese yuan, Russian rubles and UAE dirhams would not trigger secondary sanctions on South Korean buyers.
The ministry said it had relayed the confirmation to domestic firms and would continue to coordinate with companies on any further difficulties.
"Naphtha appears to have a relatively higher likelihood of being imported compared to crude oil," Yang said, noting that crude purchases face additional hurdles including quality verification and the need to complete transactions within tight deadlines.
The announcement comes as Asia's fourth-largest economy scrambles to shore up energy supplies after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — through which about 99 percent of South Korea's Middle Eastern crude imports pass — severely disrupted global oil flows.
Yang also addressed QatarEnergy's force majeure declaration on long-term liquefied natural gas supply contracts with South Korea, China, Italy and Belgium, triggered by Iranian missile strikes that damaged two of Qatar's 14 LNG production trains at the Ras Laffan industrial complex.
He said Seoul had not yet received formal notification from QatarEnergy but noted the government had already excluded Qatari volumes from this year's supply calculations in anticipation of such a move.
Yang said further consultations between Korea Gas Corporation and QatarEnergy would be needed to assess the long-term contractual impact, but emphasized that supplies through year-end had already been secured through alternative sources.
The ripple effects of the prolonged conflict are now reaching everyday consumer goods, with paint prices surging more than 40 percent and supply chain disruptions hitting items ranging from engine oil to garbage bags.
Yang said the government was monitoring the situation down to what he described as the "capillary level," prioritizing items by urgency and prepared to impose export curbs or supply adjustment orders if necessary to stabilize the domestic market.
Gas prices, meanwhile, are expected to face upward pressure in the second half of the year as the market shifts from a buyer-driven to a seller-driven environment, the ministry said, adding it was consulting with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and related agencies to minimize the burden on households.
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