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| Kim Seung-ho, deputy minister of South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, shares how the country will discuss the trade row with Japan at the World Trade Organization General Council, upon arriving at Geneva Airport on Tuesday (KST). Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
If Japan decides to strip South Korea of its preferential treatment in its trade relations, it will further widen Tokyo's international trade violations, a senior South Korean government official said, Tuesday (KST).
Tokyo's possible move, which is expected to happen later this week at the earliest according to a senior Cheong Wa Dae official, would involve removing South Korea from a "white list" of countries deemed trustworthy by Japan.
If Japan goes ahead with its plan, Japanese exporters will need licenses to ship to South Korea some 850 items that could be used in weapons-related applications, market research firm IHS Markit said.
"We expect the Japanese government to take careful actions, as the country will violate (WTO rules) on a wider scale if it extends the matter into the white list issue," Kim Seung-ho, deputy minister of Seoul's trade ministry, told reporters upon his arrival at the Geneva airport to attend the WTO meeting. South Korea's delegation will raise the ongoing trade friction with Japan at the two-day-long WTO General Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, running from July 23 to 24.
The neighboring countries are part of a complex and tightly linked network of economies that contribute to the production of electronic gadgets such as smartphones. But the trade friction began earlier this month after Tokyo unexpectedly imposed tighter controls on one crucial portion of that network — the supply of core chemicals from Japan to South Korea.
"As an official who will be managing trade affairs here, Japan's actions have gone way too far. I am going to refute Tokyo's arguments in a graceful manner," Kim told reporters.
Citing national security, Japan claims that its export control is fair. Tokyo has recently asserted that Seoul failed to properly manage some core materials crucial to fabricating semiconductors and manufacturing display panels that led to their being acquired by other countries that may pose a security threat to Tokyo. But the argument is not enough to draw international consensus during the WTO council meeting, according to a Seoul-based lawyer.
Song Ki-ho whose expertise lies in international trade affairs said in a local radio interview that Japan will not be able to back up its claim simply by citing security threats from North Korea.
"Japan included South Korea on its white list in 2003, and exempted Seoul from its so-called catch-all regulation on exports of conventional weapons in 2008," Song said.
In particular, North Korea posed a serious security threat to the international community in 2008 when its nuclear experiments were in full swing.
"But Japan is now trying to exclude the South from the list at a time when the North has stopped making any provocative actions including nuclear tests and offering a gesture for peace," Song argued. Taking this into account, Japan is unlikely to cite the North's security threat as a reason for its decision to tighten the export ban on the South.
South Korea has been considering a series of countermeasures to fight what Seoul views as "unilateral economic retaliation" from Tokyo. A senior presidential aide told reporters Cheong Wa Dae is considering nullifying the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) signed by Seoul and Tokyo in 2016 to share military information.
Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday Tokyo would not consider abolishing the bilateral pact for peace and stability in Northeast Asia. Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived in Seoul, Tuesday, after ending his stay in Tokyo. On his trip to Japan, Bolton met with his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi and Tokyo's Foreign Minister Taro Kono to discuss the deepening trade feud between Seoul and Tokyo.
On Wednesday, Bolton plans to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and presidential National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong.
A foreign ministry official said Bolton and Kang will exchange their views on a wide range of topics during their meeting.
"Possible topics include the Korea-U.S. alliance, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and ways to resolve the worsening relations between Seoul and Tokyo," the official said.
