The South Korean Foreign Ministry called on Japan on Wednesday to reconsider its decision to remove South Korea from its list of trusted trade partners and engage in dialogue
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2019) The South Korean Foreign Ministry called on Japan on Wednesday to reconsider its decision to remove South Korea from its list of trusted trade partners and engage in dialogue.Earlier in the day, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry promulgated the bill excluding South Korea from the list of trusted trade partners. The bill will come into effect on August 28.
"Japan must withdraw the unilateral and arbitrary measure as soon as possible and accept our proposal to resolve the matter through dialogue," an official from the South Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.
The measure is expected to cause delays of shipments to Seoul and affect South Korean tech industries, which depend on Japanese materials.
"The Japanese government pressed ahead with the exclusion of South Korea from the whitelist despite concerns and criticism from the international community and repeated demands from Seoul to retract the move," the official said.
Relations between Japan and South Korea soured when the latter's top court ruled earlier this year that a number of Japanese companies could be sued for their use of forced labor during World War II. Tokyo views South Korea's claims as unfounded, recalling that Japan paid $500 million to Seoul in 1965 to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries and to finally close the issue of compensation.
On July 1, Japan responded by limiting the export of three chemical components, namely fluorinated polyimides, photoresist and hydrogen fluoride, to South Korea, dealing a hard blow to the latter's tech industries. On Friday, Japan approved a proposal to remove South Korea from its list of trusted trading partners.
