Seoul asked Tokyo to end export restrictions: Sankei Shimbun

Foreign Minister Park Jin, right, meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 4. [NEWS1]

Japan dismissed Korea's request to end export restrictions tied to a diplomatic dispute, the Sankei Shimbun reported Sunday.

Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin reportedly asked Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to “return Korea to a white list” of countries with fast track trade approvals and to “lift strict export controls on three semiconductor materials,” during a meeting in Cambodia on Aug. 4.

The Japanese newspaper said Hayashi dismissed the request, and said that the export controls were a separate issue from the issue of compensation of forced laborers.

In August 2019, Tokyo implemented export restrictions on three high-tech materials crucial for Korea’s semiconductor and display productions.

Seoul considers the restrictions Tokyo’s retaliation for landmark rulings by the Supreme Court of Korea in 2018 ordering two Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced labor during World War II.

Tokyo protested the rulings, saying that a 1965 bilateral treaty that normalized bilateral ties resolved all compensation issues, and has repeatedly denied that export controls were a retaliation to the rulings.

Korea’s Foreign Ministry denied the Sankei report in a statement Monday, adding that it has “consistently requested” Japan to consider repealing the export restrictions on Korea.

A series of historic and trade disputes between Tokyo and Seoul have soured relations in recent years, a trend the Yoon Suk-yeol government swore to change upon its inauguration in May.

Tokyo has repeatedly stressed in its communications with Korea that resolving those compensation rulings is a prerequisite for improving relations with Korea.

With the Supreme Court of Korea expected to rule on the liquidation of Japanese corporate assets to compensate forced laborers soon, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul asked the court last month to consider its latest efforts to reach a diplomatic solution with Japan before it rules.

Some victims of forced labor called the Foreign Ministry’s request to the court an act of betrayal, stressing they would like the case resolved as soon as possible.

On Oct. 30, 2018, the Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, renamed Nippon Steel, to pay 100 million won ($74,670) each to Korean victims of Japanese forced labor during World War II. It made a similar ruling on Nov. 29, 2018 against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Korea’s top court acknowledged the illegality of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule and recognized that the individuals' rights to compensation had not expired.

Both Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi refused to comply with the top court's decisions, leading to a drawn-out legal process.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]