Still No Promise for the 8th Korea-Japan Export Control Policy Dialogue

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are shaking hands on December 24 last year (local time) at the Century City Shangri-La Hotel in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The scheduled '8th Export Control Policy Dialogue' aimed at resolving the trade dispute between South Korea and Japan is being postponed indefinitely. The two countries held the '7th Policy Dialogue' in Tokyo on December 16 last year and agreed to hold the 8th Policy Dialogue in Seoul as soon as possible. However, even after a month, they have yet to agree on a schedule.

On the 26th, a senior official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, "We are maintaining dialogue channels with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, but the schedule for the 8th dialogue has not been set yet."

He added, "We are not yet discussing the specific timing of the 8th dialogue," and explained, "There is no special momentum, so it is showing a complete lull."

He expected the current lull to continue for the time being. The official said, "Last year, there were events such as the Emperor's enthronement ceremony and summit meetings that had the potential to improve relations, but currently, there is no such momentum for the time being," and added, "The turning point in the Korea-Japan conflict is expected to be whether the assets of Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be liquidated around March."

Earlier, President Moon Jae-in emphasized at the New Year's press conference on the 14th, "Since there is not much time to liquidate through forced sale by compulsory execution procedures on Japanese companies' assets, I hope that dialogue between Korea and Japan will be promoted with speed."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds the position that liquidating Japanese companies' assets in Korea violates the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement. Prime Minister Abe has repeatedly stated that the issue of forced labor was completely resolved by the Claims Agreement. The liquidation, that is, forced sale, of Japanese companies' assets in Korea is a violation of the agreement. If the liquidation of Japanese companies' assets actually proceeds, further deterioration of Korea-Japan relations is inevitable.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.