Industry Minister Urges Measures to Restore Japan Export Restrictions to Previous Levels

Building Bilateral Trust, Establishing Legal Grounds for Catch-All Controls, Strengthening Export Personnel and Organization
"All Reasons for Export Regulations Raised by Japan Are Being Resolved"

Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (Photo by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, urged Japan to restore measures to the level before July 1, last year, when export regulations were imposed.

On the 6th, Minister Sung made this statement while attending the 'Ministerial Meeting on External Economy and Related Ministers' Meeting on Japan's Export Regulations.'

Minister Sung emphasized that South Korea is resolving all the reasons raised by Japan when it imposed export regulations by strengthening its export control system.

He said that the Japanese government announced strengthened export control measures last year on July 1, removing South Korea from the whitelist (countries favored for export screening for security reasons) and banning general licenses for three semiconductor-related items.

He also stressed that South Korea is addressing issues raised by Japan, including ▲deterioration of trust due to no policy dialogue between the two countries for three years ▲lack of legal basis for conventional weapons catch-all controls ▲weaknesses in South Korea's export control personnel and organization.

Regarding policy dialogue between the two countries, he said that over the past five months, export control authorities from both countries have held deputy director-level meetings and director-level policy dialogues.

He explained that South Korea has sufficiently explained laws, organizations, personnel, and systems related to export control, building sufficient trust by enhancing mutual understanding of export controls between the two countries.

He also emphasized that South Korea's catch-all control is functioning normally. On this day, he mentioned that the amendment to the Foreign Trade Act is likely to pass in the National Assembly plenary session. The amendment aims to clarify the legal basis for catch-all control and enhance the effectiveness of export control.

The export control organization and personnel are also being expanded. Last year, the government increased personnel of the Strategic Materials Management Institute, the export control support organization, by 25% (14 people).

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's trade security organization is also planned to be expanded and reorganized from the current 'section' level (Trade Security Section) to a 'bureau' level regular organization to increase trade security personnel.

Furthermore, to respond to global changes in the trade security environment, a technology security department will be established to handle global technology control issues.

Minister Sung said, "South Korea is resolving all the reasons raised by Japan when it imposed export regulations," and added, "We urge the Japanese government to take measures to restore the situation to the level before July 1, last year (before the regulations), in response to South Korea's actions."

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