| President Moon Jae-in delivers his opening remarks at the start of a hurriedly-arranged Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday afternoon. The meeting was mobilized few hours after Japan decided to revoke its preferential trade status with South Korea. Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
In his strongest remarks yet on the trade row with Japan, President Moon Jae-in criticized Tokyo, Friday, for its decision to remove South Korea from its whitelist of countries receiving preferential treatment in trade procedures.
“South Korea will never lose to Japan, again. Japan removed South Korea from its whitelist. This is a very reckless decision that ignores diplomatic efforts to resolve the problem and further exacerbates the situation. I, as President of South Korea, express deep and profound regret,” Moon said at the start of a televised Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. “As we have already warned many times, if Japan intentionally strikes at our economy, Japan should take responsibility for any setbacks.”
The President accused Japan of abusing its leverage in trade to punish Seoul over a long-time historical dispute, pointing to Tokyo's refusal to accept the U.S. suggestion to place a hold on any actions and engage in dialogue to resolve the situation and prevent it from deteriorating further.
“South Korea will absolutely take corresponding measures regarding Tokyo's economic discriminatory actions, which are simply unjustifiable,” Moon said.
Tokyo's decision to remove South Korea from the whitelist means a much broader range of materials will require ministerial approval for export. This will disrupt technology industries worldwide given Seoul's dominant position in the global memory chip sector. Japan's trade ministry said beginning Aug. 28, South Korea will be placed with “Group B countries” that are subject to a certain level of export controls. The ministry added that it would take “strict measures against circumventions, non-claimed use and other illicit exports.”
South Korea was the only Asian country on the whitelist. Revoking its preferred status also means the country will receive the same treatment as other Asian countries and territories categorized as the Group B such as Taiwan, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a press briefing in Tokyo after the announcement.
President Moon said Japan's moves were retaliation for South Korea's Supreme Court rulings last year that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to surviving South Korean who were forced to work for them before and during World War II.
“No matter what pretexts are given, the Japanese decision is against the court rulings on Korean victims of forced labor during colonial rule. It also neglects to consider universal human values such as the prohibition of forced labor and support for democracy based on the separation of powers, as well as the broader principles of international law,” the President said.
“Through its action, the Japanese government is refuting the free trade order it championed at the recent G20 Summit. In addition, the action contradicts the Japanese government's own stance expressed in the past that individual victims' right to claim damages had never been waived.”
Moon said South Korea will use the dispute as a chance to reduce the country's heavy dependence on Japan by diversifying its import sources.
“Considerable problems are expected, but our companies and our people have the ability to rise above these challenges just as we have always done so in the past. The government will provide assistance in every way possible to minimize the damage to businesses, including securing alternative import sources for materials and parts, building stockpiles, adopting original technologies, developing technology for localized production and providing financial support to build new factories and expand existing ones,” Moon said.
“We will use this as an opportunity to ensure that the country will never again be subject to technological hegemony through raising the competitiveness of our materials and parts industries, and also to further strengthen our position as a manufacturing powerhouse further,” Moon said.
But the President did open the door for Japan to return to negotiations saying his government “doesn't want a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat.”
“There is only one way to stop this. The Japanese government must withdraw its unilateral and unwarranted measures as soon as possible and take a path toward dialogue.”