SEOUL – South Korea today put Japan back on its “white list” of trusted trading partners three years after its removal, reported Yonhap.
South Korea’s Trade, Industry, and Energy Ministry issued a revision to its public notice on exports and imports of strategic items, allowing companies that export such items to Japan to enjoy a shorter period of time for review and simpler paperwork.
The move raised the number of nations given preferential treatment in trade to 29, which includes the United States, France and Britain, the ministry said as reported by Yonhap.
In 2019, South Korea took Japan off its white list following Tokyo’s removal of Seoul from its list in an apparent retaliation against South Korean Supreme Court rulings the previous year that ordered two Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean forced labour victims during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Last month, however, the two sides vowed the reinstatement after South Korea announced plans to compensate the victims without asking Japan for contributions.
Japan has not yet given details about when South Korea will return to its trade white list, though South Korean officials said Tokyo needs longer domestic procedures for a necessary law revision.
Director-level officials from Seoul and Tokyo will begin another round of trade talks in Tokyo today following a meeting in Seoul last week.
Last month, Japan lifted curbs on exports to Seoul of three materials – fluorinated polyimide, photoresist, and hydrogen fluoride – that are critical for the production of semiconductors and displays, which had been in place since 2019. – Bernama, April 24, 2023
