Korea, Japan to enhance cooperation on export control policies

Economy

Published: 11 Jul. 2023, 18:39

Korea, Japan to enhance cooperation on export control policies

Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, right, shakes hands with Hirai Hirohide, vice minister for international affairs, at Japan's trade ministry, ahead of their talks on trade and industry cooperation in Seoul on June 30, 2023. [YONHAP]

Korea and Japan agreed to enhance cooperation on their export control policies through active consultations, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

Under the memorandum of cooperation, the two countries will hold a director-level policy dialogue on export control issues twice a year, as well as swift meetings to solve issues as they occur. The document was signed at a video conference held earlier in the day between director-level officials of the two sides.

The agreement came two weeks after Japan announced a decision to redesignate South Korea as a "Group A" nation, or a white-listed country of trusted trading partners. The decision will come into force on July 21. Tokyo downgraded Korea to "Group B" in 2019 after imposing export restrictions on three key industry materials in apparent retaliation against the Korean Supreme Court rulings the previous year ordering two Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean forced labor victims during Japan's 1910-45 annexation of the Korean Peninsula.

But the two sides vowed to enact the reinstatement earlier this year after Korea announced plans to compensate the victims without asking Japan for contributions. Japan lifted the export curbs on Seoul in March after Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties, and Korea put Japan back on its white list the following month.

"The reinstatement marked the full restoration of bilateral trust in the export control field, and the two sides agreed to create a framework to ensure stronger bilateral cooperation on future export curb issues," the ministry said in a release.

Yonhap