Japan's Export Restrictions WTO Dispute Rekindled... Government Requests Panel Establishment

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] The legal dispute between South Korea and Japan over Japan's export restrictions has resumed in earnest.

On the 18th, according to the Korean Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, the Korean Mission sent a request for the establishment of a panel to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat located in Geneva, Switzerland, and to the Japanese Mission in Geneva. The request for panel establishment is a measure commonly referred to as a WTO complaint. Accordingly, the DSB panel, which corresponds to the first instance at the WTO, will adjudicate the trade conflict between the two countries.

In July last year, the Japanese government changed key materials necessary for semiconductor and display manufacturing from general comprehensive licensing to individual licensing as a retaliatory measure against the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling on compensation for forced labor during the Japanese colonial period. In August of the same year, Japan excluded South Korea from its whitelist, which grants simplified approval procedures to domestic companies when exporting.

The South Korean government filed a complaint with the WTO in September last year, but on November 22 of that year, to resolve the conflict through dialogue, it suspended the effect of the termination notice of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), which was a pressure card against Japan, and also halted the WTO complaint procedure. Subsequently, the South Korean government addressed institutional deficiencies cited by the Japanese government as justification for the export restrictions and demanded that the Japanese government present a solution to the export restrictions by the end of last month. However, as Japan did not provide a progressive response, the South Korean government resumed the WTO dispute settlement procedure on the 2nd of this month.

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