South Korea has imposed curbs on exports to Iran – mainly steel, cars and electronics – to reduce its risk of payment defaults as Western sanctions disrupt Iranian oil exports, highlighting the growing risk of doing business with the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported Thursday, June 14. The move to limit the trade exposure of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which sold $1.7 billion of goods in Iran in the first quarter of this year, was announced by South Korea’s leading trade and business body and came into effect this week. South Korea, a major buyer of Iranian crude, managed to get U.S. exemptions on Iran’s oil trade on Monday along with six other economies in return for significantly cutting purchases of Iranian oil. Industry sources said that Korean refiners will halt Iranian oil imports from July.