South Korea removes Japan from list of trusted trade partners

Transporting goods at Tokyo port, Japan. Photo: AFP/TTXVN

In a retaliatory move, the South Korean Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade announced that it had officially removed Japan from Seoul's list of trusted trading partners, saying the decision would take effect from September 18.

Yonhap news agency quoted the ministry's statement on September 17 as saying that Japan will be among the countries facing restrictions on importing strategic materials from South Korea.

With the above decision, South Korea will re-divide its trade partner groups from the current two groups into three groups and put Tokyo in the newly established group.

The ministry added that businesses exporting strategic Korean goods to Japan must submit five documents, instead of three previously, to request approval for each export order.

In addition, the approval process will take about 15 days, longer than the previous 5-day process.

Not only that, Seoul's new tightening measures also require Korean exporters to go through a longer, more rigorous review process to obtain a license to export goods to Japan, which is valid for only two years.

The South Korean Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade said the results of a public opinion survey, conducted from August 14 to September 3, showed that 91% of the people polled approved the government's decision.

The move comes a month after South Korea warned of similar retaliation against Tokyo's export restrictions on three high-tech materials imposed on Seoul last July.

Since July 4, Japan has tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of ​​three high-tech materials used in the production of semiconductors and displays - including thermoplastics (fluorinated polyimide), resists, and high-purity hydrogen chloride (HF).

Seoul has strongly protested Tokyo's move, saying it could undermine free trade principles and affect the global economy.

The government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe then decided to remove South Korea from the "White List."

This is the first time Japan has removed a country from the "White List", according to which more than 1,000 Japanese export items to South Korea will have to be approved by the government for each order.

Tokyo can also arbitrarily adjust the appraisal time for export orders./.