Moon Refutes Claims About Seoul Illegally Shipping Japanese Goods To North Korea

Moon Refutes Claims About Seoul Illegally Shipping Japanese Goods to North Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in refuted on Monday claims that Seoul had smuggled Japanese-made dual-use goods to the North in breach of UN sanctions, noting that the accusations are used by Tokyo as an excuse for trade restrictions to curb the nation's economic development

TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2019) South Korean President Moon Jae-in refuted on Monday claims that Seoul had smuggled Japanese-made dual-use goods to the North in breach of UN sanctions, noting that the accusations are used by Tokyo as an excuse for trade restrictions to curb the nation's economic development.

Earlier in July, the Japanese government canceled preferential treatment for the export of fluorinated polyimides, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride to South Korea, dealing a serious blow to the nation's high-tech industries. According to Tokyo, the restrictions are caused by the "loss of confidence" in Seoul, hinting that South Korea, which has been seeking to normalize ties with the North, transferred Japanese technologies to Pyongyang.

Speaking at a Monday meeting with his aides in his residence, Moon denounced the allegations as a "grave challenge" to Seoul that is seeking to normalize relations with Pyongyang "within the framework" of UN sanctions, the Yonhap news agency reported.

He added that South Korea honored international export control rules and UN Security Council resolutions.

Tokyo's export restrictions, meanwhile, seek to hamper the neighboring nation's economic development, but will backfire on Japan itself as South Korean businesses will look to diversify its supply routes and lose trust in partnerships with Japanese counterparts, according to Moon.

"I warn in advance that the Japanese economy will suffer bigger damage in the end," he added.

Last week, Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper, citing unnamed officials, claimed that Japan's nanotechnology materials smuggled through Seoul to the North could have been used by the latter in the production of fighter jets, radars and chemical weapons. The newspaper mentioned that even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his aides hinted that the materials supplied to South Korea could have been illegally shipped to Pyongyang.

South Korea's Hankook Ilbo, in turn, reported that the panel of experts of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea in its reports said that Japan had violated sanctions and delivered to the North 18 Mercedes and Lexus cars, 12 bottles of sake and 93 used pianos between 2008 and 2009.

The newspaper added that North Korea had also received 7,196 Japanese computers over the same period.

The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, in turn, alleged that a North Korean drone that fell on the South Korean island of Baengnyeongdo in March 2014 had a Japanese-made camera and transmitter.

The current Japanese-South Korean trade tensions come as the two nations have been entangled in a dispute over compensations to the victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula in 1910-1945.