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| Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks during the ROK-Mekong Foreign Ministers'?Meeting in Bangkok, Saturday. Yonhap |
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Saturday that Japan's ongoing export restrictions, including its removal of South Korea from a list of trusted trade partners, could pose a "serious threat" to regional prosperity.
Kang made the remarks during a meeting with her counterparts from five countries through which the Mekong River flows ― Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam ― on the last day of her four-day trip to Bangkok for multilateral talks involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"While pointing out the unreasonable nature of Japan's unilateral, arbitrary export control measure against our country, including the exclusion from the whitelist, Minister Kang voiced further serious concerns," the ministry said in a press release.
"She stressed that such measures could become a serious threat to prosperity in the region," it added.
The ministry also pointed out that all sides voiced their opposition to any measures that would undermine free trade in any context and put top priority on the values of free trade.
In a widely expected step, Tokyo's Cabinet approved plans to remove South Korea from a whitelist of 27 countries given preferential treatment in purchasing Japanese dual-use goods that could be diverted for military use.
The latest move came less than a month after Japan imposed tighter restrictions on exports to South Korean companies of three key resource materials vital to the production of semiconductors and displays.
Seoul casts the export restrictions as a political retaliation for last year's Supreme Court rulings against Japanese firms over wartime forced labor.
During the meeting, Kang stressed the importance of the Mekong region, which has recently emerged at a crucial economic player in the world based on its rich resources, young population and high growth potential.
Kang also expressed her expectations for the countries' continued support of Seoul's efforts for the denuclearization of North Korea and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)
