Todd Bishop
Japan’s trade restrictions on South Korea have an opportunity to escalate. Following the announcement at the beginning of the month that South Korea has made export controls on three wafers and screens, the Japanese government intends to whiten South Korea from the “safeguard export whitelist.” South Korea pointed out that the Japanese government’s arrangements, lack of legal basis and consultations, require Japan to cancel the plan.
The South Korea Industry, Trade and Resources Department stated that Japan’s intention to remove South Korea from the “white list” is a serious incident that has devastated the security countries and economic partnership between the two countries.
South Korea’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources, Cheng Yunmo, pointed out that this is a serious incident and has an impact on the foundation of the economic partners of the two countries and the security cooperation in Northeast Asia that has been maintained and developed for more than 60 years. He clearly stated that removing South Korea from the “white list” violated international practices and worried about serious negative impacts on global supply chains and free trade.
The Japanese government pointed out last week that it would remove South Korea from the “white list” of countries with the lowest trade restrictions according to the trade control law, and that Japanese exports need to obtain permission before they can use individual weapons. The Japanese government will seek public comment on the above changes, and then make a decision. Today is the last day of the public hearing.
US technology companies send letters to the two countries to fight against upgrading
With the outbreak of trade disputes between Japan and South Korea, five of the largest technology industry organizations in the United States, including Qualcomm and Intel’s semiconductor industry associations, sent letters to Japanese Economic Minister Shigeng Hongcheng and South Korean Trade Minister Liu Mingxi, urging conflict between the two countries. Upgrade again.
Relevant organizations pointed out that both Japan and South Korea are participants in the global supply chain. The opaque export control policy and unilateral changes will lead to supply chain disruption and delay in delivery, which will cause long-term damage to companies and employees operating inside and outside the two countries.
In addition, Kyodo News reported that the first day meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, was concluded on Tuesday, and discussions on the Japanese government’s export controls on South Korea will be postponed until Wednesday.
The report also pointed out that the Economic Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Masahiro Yamagata, will first listen to the Korean proposition and will express the Japanese position in detail on this basis.
