Nicolas Henin, a reporter’s blog

It may sound incredible, but Iraq boycotts a member state of the coalition. According to the Korean ministry of Energy, quoted by AFP, Iraq has cut off oil supplies to Seoul (accounting to some 3% of the Korean imports).

This decision was made by the Iraqi ministry of Oil, run by an Arab shia, after a deal contracted by South Korea’s top refiner SK Energy and the regional governement of Kurdistan, the de facto autonomous northern region of Iraq.

An amazing decision, considering that Seoul has 600 troops stationed in the Kurdish region and is a major part of the US led coalition.

The dispute reveals the tensions between the Iraqi central governement and the Kurdish local authorities, especially for the control of oil resources.