Global Courant
TOKYO – Japan has decided to return South Korea to its list of preferred trading partners, the latest step towards strengthening relations that will help them strengthen cooperation with the US.
The restored status will take effect on July 21, Japanese Commerce Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Tuesday. The return to Japan’s so-called white list of trading partners will ease export procedures to South Korea and comes about three months after Seoul made a similar move.
“We also agreed on a follow-up framework to continue dialogue on policy and take appropriate action, including reviewing measures and operations if necessary,” said Mr. Nishimura.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took steps this year to resolve issues related to Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, allowing the two nations to further cooperate with the US over North Korea and China.
The announcement comes as the leaders of Japan and South Korea prepare for a trilateral summit with US President Joe Biden. That meeting could take place as early as late August, the Yomiuri newspaper said earlier this month.
South Korea’s Commerce Ministry said bilateral confidence on export controls had been fully restored after deep policy discussions and pledged to cooperate with Japan on related bilateral and multilateral issues.
In March, Japan reversed export restrictions on key semiconductor materials to South Korea, easing licensing requirements for fluorinated polyimide, hydrogen fluoride and photoresists — all essential materials for making displays and semiconductors.
Both countries are major players in the chip industry, where strengthening supply chains is increasingly seen as a matter of national security. Japan is curbing exports of chip-making equipment while the US ramps up efforts to limit China’s access to advanced know-how.
Mr. Yoon has been working to restore confidence after relations with Japan under his predecessor turned the coldest in decades, hampering US efforts to work with allies.
A dispute over whether Japan had sufficiently compensated for the earlier colonization of the Korean peninsula threatened cooperation from trade to security.
Progress gained momentum after Mr Yoon unveiled a plan in March to have South Korean companies pay compensation to Koreans conscripted to work in Japanese mines and factories, rather than suing Japanese companies in court.
He was invited to meet Mr. Kishida in Tokyo for the first meeting of its kind in 12 years, and attended the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, where the two leaders showed unity by paying tribute together at a memorial for Koreans killed in the nuclear disaster of 1945. attack. BLOOMBERG
