Japan, S. Korea to Resume Export Control Review

Tokyo, March 6 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese and South Korean governments announced Monday that they will promptly resume talks to review Japan's strengthened restrictions on exports of semiconductor materials to South Korea.

Seoul promised to halt dispute settlement procedures it filed with the World Trade Organization over the export restrictions while the talks are underway.

Tokyo, which had been calling for a halt to the WTO procedures, agreed to resume the talks.

The two countries "will swiftly hold relevant bilateral talks to bring the situation to what it was before July 2019," the Japanese trade ministry said in a statement.

In July 2019, Japan tightened controls on exports to South Korea of three items including hydrogen fluoride, which is indispensable for semiconductor production, claiming that military diversion and other security concerns could not be dispelled. It also excluded South Korea from its "white" list of trusted trading partners qualified for preferential treatment in export procedures.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]