Seoul, August 8: South Korea has put on hold its plan on Thursday to remove Japan from the favoured “white list” of nations with fast-track export business, two officials familiar with the matter at the South Korean trade ministry reported.
South Korean ministers were scheduled originally on Thursday to decide on its plan at a meeting, however, they agreed to hold further discussions over this matter with the government of Japan, one of the officials stated, without explaining on the reasons for such delay.
The move comes as Japan granted its very first approval for the shipment (export) of the high-tech material to Seoul since Tokyo imposed higher restriction on South Korean exports in early July, according to Reuters news reports.
Japan on last Friday said it would be removing South Korea from Japan’s “white list” of fast-track export status, while drawing threats from Seoul’s firm and further worsening relations that have already been stressed by a trade dispute and compensation issue of wartime forced labourers.
According to Reuters news reports, industry minister Hiroshige Seko, addressing media briefing, said the decision was upheld for national security concerns after the cabinet meeting and that it wasn’t intended to cause harm to Japan-South Korea bilateral ties.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has pledged to take strict against the decision taken up by Japan’s cabinet of removing Seoul from its ‘white-list’ fast-track export status, terming it unfair and a reckless retaliatory move by Tokyo.
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- Japanese cabinet approves removing South Korea from ‘white-list’ fast-track export status
- Moon Jae-in vows to retaliate Japan decision on removing South Korea from favoured trade ‘white-list’