Japan removed South Korea from its so-called white list of countries enjoying minimum trade restrictions in August 2019 after South Korea’s top court ordered two Japanese companies in 2018 to compensate Korean plaintiffs for forced labor allegations related to Japan’s colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula during the years 1910-1945.
Japan today restored Korea’s preferential trading partner status after four years. Most items exported to Korea today will not require a permit. This move follows a similar step of the latter regarding the commercial status of the former. The two sides signed a memorandum of cooperation in July this year to hold regular policy dialogue on export procedures.
The Korean government later also removed Japan from the white list.
At the time, Japan stated that it was concerned about South Korea’s export system and needed to ensure that exported goods would not land in North Korea and other relevant countries, a news agency reported.
With the leadership change in South Korea, relations between the two countries improved, leading to a summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk Yeol in March this year.
Japan eased export controls on three key semiconductor materials to South Korea in the same month, in response to Seoul’s withdrawal of its complaint at the World Trade Organization about export control measures.
South Korea put Japan back on its list of preferential countries in April, allowing strategic items headed to Japan with a shorter review period.
The two sides signed a memorandum of cooperation in July this year to hold regular policy dialogue on export procedures.
Fiber2Fashion (DS) News Desk
