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| South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee answers questions from reporters at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (KST). She visited the United States to draw consensus from officials there over the trade feud with Japan. Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
South Korea plans to deliver the message that the deepening trade friction between Seoul and Tokyo will do "no good to U.S. customers," as prices for consumer goods, such as the iPhone, may soar in the aftermath of the recent chip price hike, according to Seoul's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee.
Upon arriving in Washington, Wednesday morning (KST), the senior government official said she will explain to her U.S. counterparts how the deepening trade row will eventually have negative economic effects on U.S. firms and American consumers.
Her Washington visit came about two weeks after National Security Office deputy head Kim Hyun-chong visited the U.S., as part of Seoul's efforts to seek Washington's support on what is widely seen as Tokyo's "unilateral economic retaliation."
"One key difference between then and now is that the price for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) memory chips have surged by 23 percent in the past two weeks," she said. DRAMs are used in all consumer electronic goods.
She also told reporters she plans to stress the necessity for Washington to pay close attention to the trade row between the neighboring countries as hundreds of millions of U.S. customers will have to pay more for products that use memory chips.
By citing specific data and examples, she said she will explain to U.S. officials that Japan's actions will have a massive impact on the global economy.
A group of six tech-related associations from the U.S. on Tuesday expressed regret over the trade row, calling Japan's export restrictions "unilateral and non-transparent."
"Non-transparent and unilateral changes in export control policies can cause supply chain disruptions, delays in shipments, and ultimately long-term harm to the companies that operate within and beyond your borders and the workers they employ," the organizations said in a joint letter to the trade ministers of Seoul and Tokyo. They include the Consumer Technology Association and the Computing Technology Industry Association.
They urged the two countries to reach a swift settlement on the issue "to reduce harm to the global economy."
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are two of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers. But with Japan tightening rules on exports to Korea of three key materials crucial for manufacturing memory chips, concerns have grown over the chip price hike, which will also end up increasing prices of end products that use chips, such as the iPhone and other digitally connected devices.
Washington has so far kept a low profile in terms of engaging in the issue, as the two countries are its crucial regional allies.
Aside from Yoo's Washington visit, South Korea is going all-out to draw international consensus that the Japan-led economic retaliation is unfair. Starting from Tuesday, the two sides have been intensifying their diplomatic tit-for-tat at the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council.
At the WTO, Japan is expected to focus on justifying its claim that the recent export restriction came amid security concerns.
This is in stark contrast to the South's views that Tokyo's measures are a form of retaliation over Seoul's Supreme Court ruling last year, ordering Japanese firms to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
If the WTO accepts Korea's argument that the export restriction is a political retaliation related to the historical dispute, Seoul is likely to gain the upper hand in possible dispute settlement procedures, some political experts said.
South Korea will also claim Japan's retaliatory action is against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a multilateral trade agreement on expanding international trade. But one of the GATT exceptions includes the national security clause with which Japan will likely defend its argument.
